“Oh, hang your sixth sense. We agreed that it was right when I related Mrs. Verwin’s story. Bakche’s yarn is merely corroborative. He did find the history of the peacock in some family papers, and did come to look up Belstone village to see if he could get the peacock and find the treasure, and yesterday he came to me to ask if I would engineer the job.”
“Hum! You refused, I expect.”
“I should jolly well think so, Dicky. Bakche claims the treasure, as he says that the Begum of Kam had no right to give it away. He wants to find the assassin of Grison, and recover the bird and read the riddle.”
“Does he know that Sorley is the culprit?”
“He didn’t yesterday, whatever he knows now. I declined to receive him as a client saying that I was working for Marie, and intended to give her the treasure when it was discovered.”
“Will it ever be discovered?” questioned Latimer skeptically.
Alan sighed. “Lord knows! I have been trying my hardest to read some meaning into the sketch I made, but so far I have failed.”
“We’ll have a look at it together,” said Dick encouragingly, “my sixth sense may help you where others have not been able to arrive at any conclusion. I owe you that much for having suspected you had broken faith with me, even for a moment,” and Dick looked very repentant.
“Oh, that’s all right, old man,” said Alan heartily “seeing that I love Marie so much it was natural you should credit me with trying to spare her pain by getting her uncle saved. But I thought it was best to let the law take its course, as in any case if he was saved now, he would only be discovered and arrested later on.”
“I suppose you and Bakche are enemies now?”