The detective nodded.
“Among the young bloods of the city,” he continued, “were two brothers, as much alike as twins, although they aren't twins, whose names were Wenham and Jerry Gardner. There's nothing in fast life which those young men haven't tried. Between them, I should say they represented everything that was known of debauchery and dissipation. The eldest can't be more than twenty-seven to-day, but if you were to see them in the morning, either of them, before they had been massaged and galvanized into life, you'd think they were little old men, with just strength enough left to crawl about. Well, to cut a long story short, both of them fell in love with Elizabeth.”
“Brutes!” Tavernake interjected.
“I guess they found Miss Elizabeth a pretty tough nut to crack,” the detective went on. “Anyhow, you know what her price was from her name, which is hers right enough. Wenham, who was a year younger than his brother, was the first to bid it. Three months ago, Mr. and Mrs. Wenham Gardner, Miss Beatrice, and the devoted father left New York in the Lusitania and came to London.”
“Where is this Wenham Gardner, then?” Tavernake demanded.
Pritchard took his cigar case from his pocket and selected another cigar.
“Say, that's where you strike the nail right on the head,” he remarked. “Where is this Wenham Gardner?”
“I don't mind telling you, Mr. Tavernake, that to discover his whereabouts is exactly what I am over on this side for. I have a commission from the family to find out, and a blank cheque to do it with.”
“Do you mean that he has disappeared, then?” asked Tavernake.
“Off the face of the earth, sir,” Pritchard replied. “Something like two months ago, the young married couple, with Miss Beatrice, started for a holiday tour somewhere down in the west of England. A few days after they started, Miss Beatrice comes back to London alone. She goes to a boarding-house, is practically penniless, but she has shaken her sister—has, I believe, never spoken with her since. A little later, Elizabeth alone turns up in London. She has plenty of money, more money than she has ever had the control of before in her life, but no husband.”