The man who had come in with Sir John, and who had been wrapped in thought, looked up, exclaiming: “Good God, you don’t suppose—?”
“Certainly not!” said the thin man. “Dear me, no! One only felt that Ware’s reserve was a trifle marked.”
“Fustian!” said Gaywood angrily. “Ten to one, Sale told him the whole, and pledged him to secrecy!”
“Which,” said Cliveden dryly, “brings us back to the riddle of what is the whole? You will own, Gaywood, that for a man of Sale’s position—indeed, for any man!—suddenly to disappear, leaving behind him no message, and no clue to his whereabouts, is something a little out of the ordinary. If rumour is to be believed, he has gone without his valet, or his baggage, or any of his horses. That may do very well for some nameless vagrant, but will hardly do for Sale! No! I must continue to hold by the opinion that there is something excessively smokey about the whole affair. And without wishing to say one word to Ware’s detriment, I feel that considering the peculiar position in which he stands he would do well to be frank.” He spread out his hands, and smiled deprecatingly at Lord Gaywood. “One cannot but feel it to be a singular circumstance that Aveley here should have met Sale actually on his way to dine with his cousin, do not you agree?”
“No, I do not!” snapped Lord Gaywood, and flung out of the room.
He did not find Captain Ware in the club, and learned upon enquiry that he had strolled across the street to the Guard’s Club not ten minutes earlier. Lord Gaywood followed him there, and sent up his name. In due course, Gideon came downstairs. Some imp of malice was grinning in his eyes, and it struck Lord Gaywood, watching him descend the staircase, that he looked rather saturnine. But he was so dark that it was, after all, easy for him to look saturnine. A smile flickered on his mouth; he said in innocent surprise: “Now what, Charlie?”
Lord Gaywood had come in search of him in the spirit of impetuosity which had more than once precipitated him into awkward situations, and he suddenly found it hard to say what was in his mind. However, it was clearly impossible to withdraw leaving it unsaid, so he drew a breath, and said abruptly: “I want a word with you, Gideon!”
Captain Ware looked more than ever amused. “By all means!” he said, and led the way to a small room, which at this hour of the day was deserted. As he closed the door, he said gently: “I murdered him, you know, and buried his body under the fifth stair.”
Lord Gaywood jumped, and coloured hotly. “Damn you, Gideon, I never had such a thought in my head! Stop bamboozling! But where is Gilly?”
“I have not the most distant guess,” replied Gideon.