Billy said nothing; but his eyes never left Lady Ingleby’s radiant face.
“Think what it will mean to Jim Airth,” she repeated.
“Er—yes,” said Ronnie. “It considerably changes the situation—for him. What does ‘Veritas’ mean?”
“That,” replied Lady Ingleby “is our private code, Michael’s and mine. My mother once wired to me in Michael’s name, and to Michael in mine—dear mamma occasionally does eccentric things—and it made complications. Michael was very much annoyed; and after that we took to signing our telegrams ‘Veritas,’ which means: ‘This is really from me.’”
“Just think!” said Ronnie. “He, a prisoner; and we, all marching away! But I remember now, we always suspected prisoners had been taken at Targai. And positive proofs of Lord Ingleby’s death were difficult to—well, don’t you know—to find. I mean—there couldn’t be a funeral. We had to conclude it, because we believed him to have been right inside the tunnel. He must have got clear after all, before Airth sent the flash, and getting in with the first rush, been unable to return. Of course he has reached Cairo with no money and no means of getting home. And the chaps who helped him, will stick to him like leeches till they get their pay. What shall you do about cabling?”
Lady Ingleby seemed to collect her thoughts with difficulty.
“Of course the money must be sent—and sent at once,” she said. “Oh, Ronnie, could you go up to town about it, for me? I would give you a cheque, and a note to my bankers; they will know how to cable it through. Could you, Ronnie? Michael must not be kept waiting; yet I must stay here to tell Jim. It never struck me that I might have gone up to town myself; and now I have wired to Jim to come down here. Oh, my dear Ronnie, could you?”
“Of course I could,” said Ronald, cheerfully. “The motor is at the door. I can catch the two-thirty, if you write the note at once. No need for a cheque. Just write a few lines authorising your bankers to send out the money; I will see them personally; explain the whole thing, and hurry them up. The money shall be in Cairo to-night, if possible.”
Lady Ingleby went to her davenport.
No sound broke the stillness save the rapid scratching of her pen.