‘True,’ said the Prince. ‘Nevertheless—’ He stopped.
‘Nevertheless you have a distaste for bringing the police into the business.
You want the hunt all to yourself. You are on fire with the ardour of the chase. Is not that it? Accept the advice of an older man, Prince, and sleep on this affair. I have little fancy for nocturnal escapades two nights together. As for you, Nella, off with you to bed. The Prince and I will have a yarn over such fluids as can be obtained in this hole.’
‘Papa,’ she said, ‘you are perfectly horrid to-night.’
‘Perhaps I am,’ he said. ‘Decidedly I am very cross with you for coming over here all alone. It was monstrous. If I didn’t happen to be the most foolish of parents—There! Good-night. It’s nine o’clock. The Prince, I am sure, will excuse you.’
If Nella had not really been very tired Prince Aribert might have been the witness of a good-natured but stubborn conflict between the millionaire and his spirited offspring. As it was, Nella departed with surprising docility, and the two men were left alone.
‘Now,’ said Racksole suddenly, changing his tone, ‘I fancy that after all I’m your man for a little amateur investigation to-night. And, if I must speak the exact truth, I think that to sleep on this affair would be about the very worst thing we could do. But I was anxious to keep Nella out of harm’s way at any rate till to-morrow. She is a very difficult creature to manage, Prince, and I may warn you,’ he laughed grimly, ‘that if we do succeed in doing anything to-night we shall catch it from her ladyship in the morning. Are you ready to take that risk?’
‘I am,’ the Prince smiled. ‘But Miss Racksole is a young lady of quite remarkable nerve.’
‘She is,’ said Racksole drily. ‘I wish sometimes she had less.’
‘I have the highest admiration for Miss Racksole,’ said the Prince, and he looked Miss Racksole’s father full in the face.