"Well, if you say so, sir, I will," the constable said, and hoisted his bicycle into the back of the car. He then got in beside Charles, and instinctively grasped the seat with both hands as the car shot forward. "Sir," he said solemnly, "if I was on dooty and saw you driving like this I should have to run you in. I should really, sir."
"No doubt, but I happen to be in a hurry. Now look here, this is what has happened." Briefly he told Flinders of his brother's and sister-in-law's unaccountable disappearance.
The constable listened in open-mouthed astonishment, and at the end of it collected his wits sufficiently to say: "Well, one thing I can tell you, sir. It ain't Mr. Titmarsh, for he's not been out of his house the whole evening."
"I didn't suppose it was," said Charles impatiently. "No, sir," said the constable, rather hurt, "but it narows it down, so to speak, don't it, when we know for certain it wasn't him?"
"When we get to the Priory," Charles said, paying no Iced to this, "I'll put you down, and you can cycle up to the house and wait for me there. I'm going on to Colonel Ackerley's house to telephone to Manfield, and I hope to bring the Colonel back with me to help search the grounds."
"Do I understand you to mean, sir, that you mean to call in them chaps at the police-station?"
"You do."
The constable coughed. "In a manner of speaking, sir, that should have been left for me to do, if I see fit."
"I'm afraid you'll have to overlook the irregularity for once," Charles replied, pulling up at the Priory gates.
The constable got out, and extricated his bicycle from the back of the car. "Very irregular, sir, that's what it is," he said. "I don't hardly know what to say about it."