"Well, there's no need for it. You've been worrying yourself over a bogey."
"A bogey!"
"Yes. There's been no 'fraud' at all. Clifford Matheson is as alive as you are. He knows perfectly well that you've been in Canada for him."
"But the overcoat and stick! They were his—I'll swear to it!"
"Yes, they were his right enough. He laid them by the river-bank at Neuilly himself."
"Why?"
"That's complicated to answer. I don't know that I ought to tell you without Mr Matheson's express permission. In fact, I want you to keep what I've just told you entirely to yourself."
Dean felt bewildered. There was suspicion in his eyes.
Larssen saw the suspicion and continued rapidly. "You think I'm trying to bluff you? I never bluff with my staff, whatever I may do outside. I'll give you proof. Have you got those signatures of Clifford Matheson's?"