“They won’t have got up yet.”
“It’s curious that you don’t know more about their habits after living there. Miss Kenwardine goes out with Lucille before the sun gets hot, and her father’s about as early as you are.”
“What does he do in the morning?”
“I haven’t inquired, but I’ve found him in the room he calls his office. You’re misled by the idea that his occupation is gambling.”
Dick did not reply, and was silent during breakfast. He understood Jake’s liking for Kenwardine because there was no doubt the man had charm. His careless, genial air set one at one’s ease; he had a pleasant smile, and a surface frankness that inspired confidence. Dick admitted that if he had not lost the plans at his house, he would have found it difficult to suspect him. But Jake was right on one point; Kenwardine might play for high stakes, but gambling was not his main occupation. He had some more important business. The theft of the plans, however, offered no clue to this. Kenwardine was an adventurer and might have thought he could sell the drawings, but since he had left England shortly afterwards, it was evident that he was not a regular foreign spy. It was some relief to think so, and although there was a mystery about the coal, which Dick meant to fathom if he could, nothing indicated that Kenwardine’s trickery had any political aim.
Dick dismissed the matter and remembered with half-jealous uneasiness that Jake seemed to know a good deal about Kenwardine’s household. The lad, of course, had gone to make inquiries when he was ill, and had probably been well received. He was very little younger than Clare, and Fuller was known to be rich. It would suit Kenwardine if Jake fell in love with the girl, and if not, his extravagance might be exploited. For all that, Dick determined that his comrade should not be victimized.
When breakfast was over they left the hotel and presently met Clare, who was followed by Lucille carrying a basket. She looked very fresh and cool in her white dress. On the whole, Dick would sooner have avoided the meeting, but Jake stopped and Clare included Dick in her smile of greeting.
“I have been to the market with Lucille,” she said. “The fruit and the curious things they have upon the stalls are worth seeing. But you seem to have been there, though I did not notice you.”
“No,” said Jake, indicating the flowers and fruit he carried. “I got these at the hotel. The colors matched so well that I felt I couldn’t let them go, and then it struck me that you might like them. Dick warned me that the things are not eatable in their present state, which is a pretty good example of his utilitarian point of view.”
Clare laughed as she thanked him, and he resumed: “Lucille has enough to carry, and I’d better bring the basket along.”