Nordsten stared at him.
"You mean that you believe what he was saying about it being the future ruler of the world?"
"By itself, no," answered Simon. "But if it were not by itself—"
He did not finish the sentence; and they were silent for the rest of the Dr.ive. Before they went to bed he asked one more question.
"Who else knows about these experiments?"
"No one, I believe. He told me the other day that he was not prepared to say anything about them until he could show complete success. As a matter of fact, I lent him some money to go on with his work, and that is the only reason he took me into his confidence. I was surprised when he showed us his laboratory tonight — even I had never seen it before."
"So he is convinced now that he can show a complete success," said the Saint quietly, and was still subdued and preoccupied the next morning.
In the afternoon he refused to swim or play tennis. He sat hunched up in a chair on the veranda, scowling into space and smoking innumerable cigarettes, except when he rose to pace restlessly up and down like a big nervous cat.
"What you are really worried about is the girl," Nordsten teased him.
"She's pretty enough to worry about," said the Saint shamelessly. "I think I'll go over and ask her for a cocktail."