“Oh, I expect he went amongst people who didn't know his substitute by sight. That wouldn't be difficult.”
“He'd be picked up and sent back to his supposed unit very soon—the dead man's unit, I mean. And then the fat would be in the fire.”
“Obviously he wasn't sent back, then, squire, if you prefer it so,” Sir Clinton conceded, turning to Fordingbridge. “What we've heard just now accounts well enough for Staveley being associated with your nephew lately—I mean the man who's living at Flatt's cottage.”
“Is there a nephew of mine at Flatt's cottage?” Paul Fordingbridge questioned coldly. “I don't know with certainty that I have a nephew alive at all.”
“He calls himself Derek Fordingbridge, if that's any help.”
“Oh, you mean that fellow? I've no proof that he's my nephew.”
“I should like to hear something more about him, if you don't mind,” Sir Clinton suggested.
“I've no objection—not the slightest,” Paul Fordingbridge responded. “My nephew Derek was in the Army from 1914. He was captured on the West Front in the same battle as the one I've been speaking about. We learned later on that he'd been sent to the prisoners' camp at Clausthal. He got away from there almost at once and made a good try to get over the Dutch frontier; but they got hold of him at the last moment. Then he was sent to Fort 9, Ingolstadt. He hadn't been there a week before he got away again. My impression is that most probably he was shot in trying to get across the Swiss frontier, if not earlier; and they failed to identify him. We heard no more about him, anyhow; and when the prisoners were released after the Armistice, he wasn't among them. If this fellow were really my nephew, it's hard to see why he's let so long a time go by without communicating with us. If he really is my nephew, there's a lot of money waiting for him; and he's an enterprising chap, as you can see from his escape attempts. And yet we've had no word from him of any sort since before the attack in which he was captured.”
“Lost his memory, perhaps?” Wendover suggested.
“It might be possible,” Paul Fordingbridge answered in a frigid tone which damped further speculation on Wendover's part. Turning to Sir Clinton, he added: