Presently the answer came. "Why do you wish to know?"
"Mr Matheson is my half-brother, and though I'm in close touch with him, I've had no intimation of any such move on his part."
"Hold the line, please."
Another pause ensued, followed by the formal statement. "The news came to us last night from our Paris office. We believe it to be correct. Do we understand that you wish to deny it?"
"No; I want to get confirmation of it. Thanks—good-bye."
Then he asked the post-office for a trunk call to Paris, and after an hour's wait he was put in touch with the headquarters of the Europe Chronicle. The second 'phone conversation proved as unsatisfactory as the first. A financial editor of a responsible journal does not talk freely with any unknown man who rings him up on a hasty trunk call. The reply came that the information in question reached the paper from a perfectly reliable source. If Mr Rivière cared to call at the office, they would give him proof of the accuracy of their statement. They could not discuss such a matter over the 'phone.
Rivière urged that he was speaking from Wiesbaden.
They were sorry, but they did not care to discuss the matter over the 'phone. He must either take their word for it that the information was correct, or else call in person at the Paris office.
It was clear to Rivière that he must make the journey to Paris if he were to unravel the mystery of that astounding statement. The dead Clifford Matheson mentioned authoritatively as Chairman of the new company! Why should such an impossible story be set afloat, and what was the "reliable source" spoken of? He knew that the Europe Chronicle though a sensational paper, would not print self-invented fiction on its financial page.
"I have an urgent call to Paris," he told Elaine. "I hope you will excuse my running away so brusquely? I'll be back before the day of your operation."