‘Which?’
‘Why, suppose they do release the marquis, how am I to get the money to pay double his offer? He won’t stump up and recoup me.’
Merton laughed. ‘We must risk it,’ he said. ‘And, in the changed circumstances, the tin might be raised on a post-obit. But he won’t bid high; you may double safely enough.’
On considering these ideas Logan looked relieved. ‘Now,’ he asked, ‘about your plan; is it following the emu’s feather?’
Merton nodded. ‘But I must do it alone. The
detectives must stay here. Now if I leave, dressed as I am, by the 10.49, I’ll be tracked all the way. Is there anybody in the country whom you can absolutely trust?’
‘Yes, there’s Bower, the gardener, the son of these two feudal survivals, and there is his son.’
‘What is young Bower?’
‘A miner in the collieries; the mine is near the house.’
‘Is he about my size? Have you seen him?’