‘Who are you? You seem to know something,’ said Lord Dolmer.
Redgrave gave his name, and added:
‘I am an officer in the Customs.’
That sounded well.
‘I fancy I could trace your tricycle, if you gave me time,’ he said.
‘I will give you not only time, but money,’ the peer replied.
‘We will talk about that later,’ said Redgrave.
Until that hour Richard had no thought of assuming the rôle of detective or private inquiry agent; but he saw no reason why he should not assume such a rôle, and with success. He calmly determined to trace the missing tricycle. By a stroke of what is called luck, he found it before Lord Dolmer’s train left. Over half of the coach-house was a loft in the roof. Richard chanced to see a set of pulleys in the rafters. He climbed up; the motor-tricycle was concealed in the loft. The landlord, confronted with it, said that of course some mischievous loiterers must have hoisted it into the loft as a practical joke. The explanation was an obvious one, and Lord Dolmer was obliged to accept it. But both he and Redgrave had the gravest suspicions of the landlord, and it may be mentioned here that the latter is now in prison, though not for any sin connected with Lord Dolmer’s tricycle.
‘What do I owe you? Name your own sum,’ said Lord Dolmer to Redgrave.
‘Nothing at all,’ Redgrave answered.