“You mean yourself?” Diana smiled faintly, not in the mood to be amused.
“I mean me,” said Julius. “If I was you, miss, I’d drop a hint to Mr. Selsbury. Maybe he takes more notice of what his daughter says.”
At parting he took her hand in his own large, purple paw, called her “Miss Selsbury” and asked to be remembered to her father. When Gordon came home, she told him of the visit.
“Superbus, eh?” said Gordon good-naturedly. “He called for a tip. But why, in the name of heaven, he should start in to alarm you, I don’t know. I must speak to the Association about it.”
“He didn’t alarm me at all,” said Diana, “except when he asked to be remembered to my father, and said that you were more likely to be influenced by your young and gentle daughter——”
“Does he think I’m your father?” demanded Gordon indignantly. “That fellow’s got a nerve! As for Double Dan, I shouldn’t think very much about him if I were you, Diana. He certainly caught old Mendlesohn, but then, old Mendlesohn is a philandering old fool. He allowed himself to be trapped by the woman who works with the scoundrel and acts as his decoy duck.”
The mail boat was in, Gordon noted, glancing at his newspaper the next morning. He had arranged to remain at home that day, and his accountant called at the house with a carefully engrossed receipt form and the office cheque-book. Gordon filled a blank for eleven thousand and a few odd pounds.
“I want fifty thousand dollars in gold bills; you’ll buy them at the Bank of England. Bring them back here in a taxicab, Miller. You have told the office that wires are to be telephoned to me? Good. I expect a message from Mr. Tilmet.”
The message did not come until long after the bills had been deposited in The Study safe.
It was from Paris, to the effect that Mr. Tilmet had landed at Cherbourg and would be in London on the Sunday; he added that he would leave for Holland that same night. Gordon, in his genteel way, consigned the American to the devil.