Sir William reddened. He himself had by this time begun to feel considerable regret that he had been so rashly outspoken.
“It’s all very well,” he grumbled, “to give advice like that; but I tell you, when you suddenly make a discovery like that—when you’re absolutely sure, mind you, as I was and am—you forget all rules of prudence, even perhaps of propriety, and you go for the swindler there and then.”
“Sh—sh,” said Gerard.
Arthur reddened.
“Come, I say, Gurdon, you shouldn’t say things like that without a lot more proof than you’ve got, that things are not on the square,” said he, with excitement.
“By Jove! What better proof can a man have than the evidence of his own eyes?” asked Sir William. “I’m convinced, as I tell you, that I’ve been deliberately robbed. And the only reason why I’m allowing myself to be persuaded to sit here quietly and to let things simmer down, instead of leaving the house at once, is that the thing is too flagrant to be passed over, and that I intend to give information about it to the police.”
Both his hearers protested at once, incoherently, in a low voice.
“Nonsense,” said Arthur. “How on earth can you bring disgrace upon the ladies by doing such a thing as that? How can you, after being hospitably received by Mrs. Van Santen, give information against one of her sons? It’s impossible.”
“I’m going to do it, though,” said Sir William, with ominous tranquillity. “If I were not absolutely certain of what I saw, I need not tell you I would never do such a thing. As it is, I’m convinced I was only what you call hospitably received for the purpose of being plundered; and, as I say, I’m not going to put up with it quietly. I’m going to give information to the police. If there’s nothing in my charge, it will be all right, of course. They will listen to me quietly, and no more will be heard of it. But if, on the other hand, the information I give chimes in with anything they know, or may know in the future, about these people, then my evidence may prove useful, and I shouldn’t hesitate to give it.”
He was so quietly determined that Gerard looked upon it as a hopeless task to try to dissuade him from his purpose. Indeed, he was not sorry to hear his intention. If the Van Santens were swindlers, it was time they were brought to justice. And if, unhappily, Miss Davison were mixed up with them, there was ample time to warn her of what was in store for the family.