It was a genuine compliment, and I felt that I had achieved something great. If I don't make a fortune as a private inquiry agent I will go to the music halls and sing coster songs.
"Well, Jack," said I, "do you still believe in your ghost?"
"I'll take my oath on it," he replied.
Then we went boldly forth, on the road to Finchley. First, however, in pursuance of the idea which set me laughing earlier that morning when I passed Madame Lourbet's shop, I turned the donkey's head in the direction of Soho, which was not much out of our way. I had the temerity to enter her shop with a couple of fine ferns, which I offered at so low a price that she was tempted to purchase them, but not before she had baited me down twopence a pot. The price she paid was eightpence. A shrewd woman at a bargain, this Madame Lourbet.
Laughing in my sleeve I rejoined Jack, and we pursued our journey in search of Louis' ghost. It did not appear, and though I kept a sharp lookout I saw nothing of Maxwell. The only satisfaction I obtained was that the route taken by Jack was the same by which Wheeler had tracked the tall, dark man who had been concealed behind the green curtain in Madame Lourbet's shop. I returned home late at night, and completely tired out. A costermonger's life is not an easy one; he truly earns his livelihood by the sweat of his brow.
A telegram from Wheeler lay on my table: "All goes well. The body will be exhumed to-night." My opinion of him was justified; he was not the man to let the grass grow under his feet. Nothing more could be done till I received his report. On the following morning I received another telegram from him: "Will be with you at four this afternoon." Not a word as to the result of the examination; but he certainly had lost no time.
So impatient was I as the hour approached that I could not keep indoors, but walked up and down the street, to hail him the moment he appeared. A few minutes past four o'clock his cab rattled up to the door, and out he jumped.
"I am a little behind time," he said as he paid the cabman, and I could see that he was excited.
"Those confounded trains—they are always late."
"You have news," I said.