You saw Pagett left behind at Cape Town—by no possible means could he have arrived here before the following Wednesday. He is unlikely to have any emissaries in this part of the world, and all his plans were laid to deal with you in Cape Town. He might, of course, have cabled instructions to some lieutenant of his in Johannesburg, who could have joined the Rhodesian train at Mafeking, but his instructions would have had to be particularly definite to allow of that note being written."
We sat silent for a moment, then Harry went on slowly:
"You say that Mrs. Blair was asleep when you left the hotel and that you heard Sir Eustace dictating to Miss Pettigrew? Where was Colonel Race?"
"I could not find him anywhere."
"Had he any reason to believe that—you and I might be friendly with each other?"
"He might have had," I answered thoughtfully, remembering our conversation on the way back from the Matoppos. "He's a very powerful personality," I continued, "but not at all my idea of the 'Colonel.' And, anyway, such an idea would be absurd. He's in the Secret Service."
"How do we know that he is? It's the easiest thing in the world to throw out a hint of that kind. No one contradicts it, and the rumour spreads until every one believes it as gospel truth. It provides an excuse for all sorts of doubtful doings. Anne, do you like Race?"
"I do—and I don't. He repels me and at the same time fascinates me; but I know one thing, I'm always a little afraid of him."
"He was in South Africa, you know, at the time of the Kimberley robbery," said Harry slowly.
"But it was he who told Suzanne all about the 'Colonel' and how he had been in Paris trying to get on his track."
"Camouflage—of a particularly clever kind."
