“Yes—he’s coming back, according to my intentions, with the three of us to Assynton Lodge—and we’re going via ‘Neuve Chapelle’—Colonel Leach-Fletcher’s house is the Rockinge side of Assynton—that’s why we’re going round that way. It will be safer!” Goodall nodded an assent. “Of course,” continued Anthony—“it’s just on the cards that we shall draw a complete blank—but as I said before, I don’t think so. Impatience is a tyrannical taskmaster—ask any woman! Come into the smoke-room!” They made themselves comfortable. “I calculate that it will be dark about a quarter-past ten—we have three-quarters of an hour’s journey from here by car—let alone the walk from the Colonel’s. We should leave here, to be on the safe side, directly Stewart comes.”
“You think it’s certain that nothing will happen before dark?” asked Goodall.
“I don’t think any attempt will be made,” answered Anthony, “before midnight! They will wait until it’s really dark—still we mustn’t give any chances away. Now, Daventry—I want to talk to you! That screen you saw at the Hanover Galleries! If my memory isn’t faulty, it was covered with the words, ‘Jesus Christ, God and Saviour,’ in beads. Am I right?” Peter nodded.
“That’s right,” he admitted cheerfully; “I can see it now. Brightly-colored beads they were—under a kind of glass covering.”
“Was the word ‘and’ shown in full—with its full complement of letters—that is?”
“What do you mean?”
“Just this! In the present day, ‘and’ is often expressed by a kind of hieroglyphic—you know what I mean—I don’t quite know how old the practice is—but counting ‘and’ as one—if it had been shown like that—there would have been just twenty-two letters in the inscription—see what I’m getting at?”
Peter shook his head. “That theory goes ‘phut,’ old man,” he declared, “ ‘and’ was depicted in full—the three letters, a—n—d.”
“Thank you,” replied Anthony somewhat surprisingly cheerfully. “I’m rather glad, as a matter of fact, to hear you say that—it rather strengthens my belief in my other theory.” Goodall looked up at the clock anxiously.
“Mr. Stewart should be here, Mr. Bathurst—I don’t want to stay in here too long, you know. I shall be getting uneasy.”