What is quite certain is that Mr. Anthony Cade will not return here. But knowing King Victor, as I do, I am certain that he will not abandon the game without having one more try for the jewel. And that is when I shall get him!”
Virginia stood up suddenly. She walked across to the mantelpiece and spoke in a voice that rang cold as steel.
“You are leaving one thing out of account, I think, M. Lemoine,” she said. “Mr. Cade is not the only guest who disappeared yesterday in a suspicious manner.”
“You mean, Madame?”
“That all you have said applies equally well to another person. What about Mr. Hiram Fish?”
“Oh, Mr. Fish!”
“Yes, Mr. Fish. Did you not tell us that first night that King Victor had lately come to England from America? So has Mr. Fish come to England from America. It is true that he brought a letter of introduction from a very well-known man, but surely that would be a simple thing for a man like King Victor to manage. He is certainly not what he pretends to be. Lord Caterham has commented on the fact that when it is a question of the first editions he is supposed to have come here to see he is always the listener, never the talker. And there are several suspicious facts against him. There was a light in his window the night of the murder. Then take that evening in the Council Chamber. When I met him on the terrace he was fully dressed. He could have dropped the paper. You didn’t actually see Mr. Cade do so. Mr. Cade may have gone to Dover. If he did it was simply to investigate. He may have been kidnapped there. I say that there is far more suspicion attaching to Mr. Fish’s actions than to Mr. Cade’s.”
The Frenchman’s voice rang out sharply:
“From your point of view, that well may be, Madame. I do not dispute it. And I agree that Mr. Fish is not what he seems.”
“Well, then?”
“But that makes no difference. You see, Madame, Mr. Fish is a Pinkerton’s man.”
“What?” cried Lord Caterham.
“Yes, Lord Caterham. He came over here to trail King Victor. Superintendent Battle and I have known this for some time.”
Virginia said nothing. Very slowly she sat down again.
199
