"And, I suppose, in view of the evidence supplied by Macpherson, set up a search for Ambrose?" suggested Hetherwick.
"To be sure! We'll get out a 'tracked by the police' notice, describing him to the best of our power," replied Matherfield. "But I'll tell you—in my opinion it'll be a stiff job getting hold of him. If you want my opinion, as a private individual, he's probably got that secret invention of Hannaford's and gone off across the Atlantic with it—to turn it into money."
"That's very likely," assented Hetherwick. "But what about Baseverie?"
"I'm not so much concerned about him now," said Matherfield. "Ambrose seems to be the man I want—first, anyway. But I shall do what I can to get hold of Baseverie. If these Penteney and Blenkinsop people had only come to us instead of laying plans of their own, some good would have been done. I shouldn't have let the man got away!"
"My belief," observed Hetherwick, "is that Baseverie and Ambrose are partners in this affair. And—how do we know that they didn't meet at Dover, and that they haven't gone off together?"
Still wondering about this, Hetherwick next morning went round to Lincoln's Inn Fields and asked to see one of the partners. He was shown into the room in which he and Matherfield had had their interview on the previous day. But he found Major Penteney alone. Blenkinsop, remarked the junior partner, had business in the Courts that morning.
"I called," explained Hetherwick, "to ask if you had any more information about Baseverie's disappearance at Dover."
Penteney made a wry face.
"More vexed than ever about that!" he answered. "Most inexcusably stupid conduct on the part of our man—man we've always found so reliable previously. He came back yesterday afternoon, crestfallen, told us all about it, and got a jolly good wigging. He'd done well at first. Tracked his man from Riversreade Court to Dorking, and thence to Redhill, and thence to Dover, after one or two changes. Baseverie put up at some hotel—I forget which—near the harbour; our man, certain that Baseverie was quite unconscious that he was being followed, put up there, too. Nothing happened. He saw Baseverie at dinner that night, saw him in the smoking-room after; in fact, he had a game of billiards with him, and saw him retire to bed; their rooms were adjacent. He felt sure of seeing him at breakfast, but when he went down he found that the bird had flown—flown, said the night porter, before six o'clock; he didn't know where. Nor could our man trace him at station or pier, or anywhere."
"Careless sort of watching," said Hetherwick.