"Very difficult," corrected the detective.
"But not impossible?"
"I would not care to hazard a reasoned opinion, but it seems to me that, in certain conditions, the District Attorney might elect to confine the inquiry to its main issues, which are, of course, the causes of the crime, and the conviction of the persons actually engaged in it."
"Why did you want to bring Jean de Courtois here?"
"Because he is the connecting link between the one set of circumstances and the other."
"Is he coming, do you think?"
Steingall looked at the clock, and showed a disappointment which he did not try to conceal.
"I fear not," he said. "I told Clancy only to try and persuade him to come. The Frenchman is pretending to be ill, but he is not ill, only frightened."
"Frightened of what?"
"Of the consequences of his own acts. In a sense, Mr. Hunter was his ally, but only from a journalist's standpoint, which centered in the sensation which would be provided by the projected marriage."