"Sorry you are laid by, old man," Max said cheerfully as he was shown into Win's room. "Better luck soon."
"It's good of you to come," replied Win, grasping the hand so cordially offered and relieved to see that the pleasant young face bore no expression of the sympathetic pity Win so often read in older countenances.
"Well, my being here is as much of a surprise to me as to any one," said Max, sitting down by the bed. "On Friday I expected to spend my Sunday in Paris. But it chanced that I successfully engineered a rather ticklish job for the Embassy, and the Chief was pleased. As a figurative pat upon the head he gave me the week-end off. You should have seen the way my car went to Granville! Jean drove till we were clear of Paris and then I took the wheel and things began to hum. From the tail of my eye I could see Jean devoutly crossing himself whenever we hit the earth, but we made the boat and didn't so much as run down a hen. I did wonder that we weren't held up anywhere for exceeding the speed limit, but the mystery was explained when we reached the Granville pier."
Max stopped with a mischievous laugh. "The Embassy has several official machines," he explained, "and of course they are so marked they are easily recognizable. I always use my own car, and am authorized to sport the Embassy insignia when on official business. I forgot to remove it before starting and that was why not a single gendarme did more than salute as we tore past. Good joke, so long as it ended well, but if we'd come a cropper on the way, there'd have been rather a row and Max would have stood for an official wigging, to say the least. Lucky for us that nothing went wrong. What's done you up, old fellow?"
Win looked at him wistfully. "Just exploring the Manor cave," he said with a sigh. "I did so want to see it, and I made Roger take me. I managed to get down all right, but it took over an hour to climb the cliff. The kid is wild because he thinks he's half-killed me."
"Oh, say, that's a shame," said Max. "I wish I'd known that you wanted to go. Pierre and I could have rigged a rope somehow and helped you get back."
Win's face just then was pitiful. Max's eyes grew very gentle but he did not utter one word of sympathy. "I've been led a lively pace since I reached the Manor," he went on. "Between Connie's ghost hunt and the extraordinary church she chose to attend this morning and your discovery in the library, my existence hasn't lacked variety. Gay Paris is quiet beside this! But there's nothing in the world I'm so keen on as hidden treasure. I'm pretty sure I have a special talent for hunting it down. To be sure the only time I ever tried, I made a giddy ass of myself and got into a jolly mess, but I wonder will I succeed with this. Connie thinks you've the tail of an idea. Can't you put me on?"
"That was what I wanted to see you for," replied Win, his self-possession quite restored. "Please open the lower drawer of that desk. Right on top is a roll of tracing paper."
"Why, this is a copy of the Manor plans," said Max, as he spread out the thin sheet.
"Yes," said Win. "Colonel Lisle let me trace them. Tell me, does anything about them strike you as odd?"