Horbury's niece, Miss Fosdyke," assented Polke. "The young lady, of course, is naturally anxious about her uncle's safety, and Lord Ellersdeane is anxious about the Countess's jewels. And we hear that securities of yours are missing."
"We haven't told you so," retorted Gabriel.
"We haven't even approached you," remarked Joseph.
"Just so!" agreed Polke. "But, under the circumstances———"
"We have nothing to say to you, superintendent," interrupted Gabriel. "We can't help anything that Lord Ellersdeane has done, nor anything that Miss Fosdyke likes to do. Lord Ellersdeane is not, and never has been, a customer of ours. Miss Fosdyke acts independently. If they call you in—as they seem to have done very thoroughly—it's their look out. We haven't! When we want your assistance, we'll let you know. At present—we don't."
He waved one of the white hands towards the door as he spoke, as if to command withdrawal. But Polke lingered.
"You don't propose to give the police any information, then, Mr. Chestermarke?" he asked quietly.
"At present we don't propose to give any information to anybody whom it doesn't concern," replied Gabriel. "As regards the mere surface facts of Mr. John Horbury's disappearance, you know as much as we do."
"You don't propose to join in any search for him or any attempt to discover his whereabouts, sir?" inquired Starmidge, speaking for the first time.
