“I have some,� smiled the baroness, who had been taking a costly, gold-tipped Turkish cigarette from a gold case. “Here!�
She took from her chatelaine a small gold match box—a companion piece to the cigarette case—and pressing open the cover, offered it to the detective.
He saw, as he took one of the wax matches in his fingers, that it was an exact duplicate of the burned match he had picked up in the bedroom of Mrs. de Puyster van Dietrich that morning.
Wax matches generally are more or less alike, but these were much thicker than most of them.
He was obliged to drop his eyes to veil the gleam of excitement in them. Then, coolly striking the match, he held it until the baroness’ cigarette was going.
When he lighted his own, he blew out the match and dropped it carelessly to the floor at his feet.
“May I take a match or two from your box, in case of[Pg 15] emergency, until I get some,� he asked, smiling. Then, as she nodded assent, he continued: “When am I to have the pleasure of another round with you on the links?�
The baroness laughed gleefully, and she answered his questions by asking another:
“Do you do everything as seriously as you play golf, Colonel Pearson?�
“I suppose so,� smiled Nick. “It always seems to me that anything worth doing at all should be taken up earnestly.�