The two men went away, and Masson, taking the other by the arm, led him into the house.
Patsy had overheard the whole of this conversation by slipping out into the middle of the street, behind the four persons and climbing into a cab standing empty before the door.
When all had disappeared, he crawled out again and crossed to the other side of the street.
“Now, what does all that mean?” said Patsy to himself. “The first two men were from his yacht. That’s clear. And Masson is going on a long cruise. That’s clear, too. But who was the other man, and what’s that about a funeral?”
He stood thinking a little while, and then suddenly exclaimed:
“Gee! what if it’s the funeral of that Miss Romney? Well, I’ll shadow him for a while if he comes out, for Masson’s going to stay in the club.”
Shortly after the man who had entered with Masson came out, and leisurely walked off into the direction of Broadway, closely followed by Patsy. It soon became apparent that he had no particular business on hand, nor any special place to go to, but was lounging from saloon to saloon.
“It’s eating up time for nothing following this chap,” said Patsy, to himself. “I’ll give him the drop, and start after the chief to find him.”
Acting upon this thought, Patsy hurried to his chief’s residence, to find that Nick had just come in with Chick.
He reported the conversation between Masson and the three men that he had overheard, to the great interest of the two elder detectives.