‘Gideon,’ he said, ‘tell me, who is this foolish red-headed young man who so loves to hear his own voice?’
Gideon glided forward obsequiously and stood beside the desk, his grey face and glittering eyes hideous beneath his white hair. He used his hands as he talked, emphasizing his words with graceful fluttering gestures.
‘His name is George Abbershaw,’ he said. ‘He is a doctor of medicine, a pathologist, an expert upon external wounds and abrasions with especial regard to their causes. In this capacity he has been often consulted by Scotland Yard. As a university friend of Wyatt Petrie’s, there is no reason to suppose that he came here with any ulterior motive.’
The German continued to regard Abbershaw steadily.
‘He is not a detective, ja?’
‘No.’ Gideon spoke emphatically. ‘That is obvious. English detectives are a race apart. They are evident at the first glance. No one who knew anything about the English Police Force could possibly suspect Dr Abbershaw of holding any rank in it.’
The German grunted.
‘So,’ he said, and returned to Abbershaw, ‘you are just an ordinary headstrong young man who, like the others downstairs, is under the impression that this affair is a melodrama which has been especially devised in order that they may have the opportunity of posing heroically before the young ladies of your party. This is an old house, suitable for such gaming, but I, one of the chief actors in your theatre, I am not playing.’
He paused, and Abbershaw was conscious of a faint change in his face, although he did not appear to have moved a muscle.
‘What does it matter to me,’ he continued, ‘if you hide yourselves in priestholes or spring upon me out of cupboards? Climb from one room to another, my friend, make yourself dusty in disused passages, attempt to run your motor-cars upon alcohol: it does me no harm. My only interest is in a package I have lost – a thing that can be of no use to anyone but myself and possibly one other man in the world. It is because I believe that there is in this house someone who is in the employ of that other man that I am keeping you all here until I recover my property.’