He gave Grey the gist of his interview with Kean. The solicitor was inclined to be sceptical as to the existence of Baxter, but he admitted that, were the man still alive, Kean’s suggestion would more than hold water and he promised to look into the matter at once. He smiled at Kean’s offer to deal with Gregg himself if the occasion arose.
“Didn’t I tell you that he trusted no one but himself in a matter of any real importance?” he exclaimed. “That’s a part of the secret of his success. That and his amazing capacity for cramming two men’s work into the twelve hours. He must be uncommonly keen on the case, though. Apart from Lady Kean’s illness he’s up to his eyes in work already.”
“Which will be the saving of him if things go wrong with her,” said Fayre. “I wish this next week were over.”
Grey nodded.
“So do I, from our point of view as well as his. If Lady Kean dies Sir Edward will do one of two things: try to lose himself in work or chuck everything. It’s a toss-up. If he were to throw up the sponge, I don’t know what we should do. Even with the little we’ve got now, Kean might get Leslie off on insufficient evidence, but there’s not another man at the Bar who could put it through. We’re still in an uncommonly tight corner.”
In the afternoon Fayre called on Kean and literally forced him into the open air. The two men walked across the Park as far as Bayswater. Once there, however, Kean fell into a panic and, refusing Fayre’s offer to ring up his house at the nearest public telephone, jumped into a taxi and hurried home. Fayre turned back and strolled quietly along the Serpentine in the direction of Hyde Park Corner. He had not gone far when his eye fell on the figure of a woman walking just ahead of him. Something in the purposeful swing of her walk and the carriage of her erect figure struck him as familiar and he quickened his steps and was soon abreast of her.
She turned at the sound of his voice.
“Mr. Fayre! I was just thinking of you, curiously enough, and wishing I had asked you for your address the other day when we met in the train.”
Fayre turned to her with a smile.
“If I were a more conceited man I should feel flattered, but I’m afraid you’ve got some annoyingly good reason for wishing to see me. Is there anything I can do?”