"Not a scratch, thank goodness."
"I hope you would know the scoundrels, Herr Bastable?" said von Felsen.
"What a question!" I answered with another laugh. "Do you think you would, if you had been chloroformed to wake up on a lonely road in the dark miles away from anywhere. They knew their business too well for that."
"Well, I'm sure I congratulate you, Herr Bastable," said von Felsen, with well affected sincerity. "As you say, we don't exactly hit it in many ways, but a thing of this sort might happen to any of us. It's monstrous that it could occur. Of course you'll set the police to work."
I threw up my hands as if it were useless. "I've just been with Feldermann and his manner told me what to expect. Without a clue of any sort, what can they do?"
Althea had been watching him very closely, and now turned to him. "You said just now, that you had no doubt of your being able to get to the bottom of it all."
"I shall do everything in my power as it is," he replied uneasily.
"But you spoke of having knowledge that would lead to certain success."
"I made sure it was merely a case of arrest; in which event, of course, my influence would soon have enabled me to ascertain everything."
"I did not take it to be merely that," was the drily spoken reply.