"We shall have news, and her, soon—and something else," said Randal.
"What?" asked Caldegard.
"I thought you'd forgotten it! Ambrotox, of course. I'll tell her, Caldegard. I once heard a man tell his wife, after she'd been chattering to him for twenty minutes, that he'd forgotten to light his pipe all the time she'd been talking. She said it was the best compliment she'd ever had. I shall tell Amaryllis how you forgot Ambrotox."
Superintendent Finucane felt his spirits rise at the sight of the urbane barrister, and received even the dishevelled person of the lost lady's father with a measure of cordiality. He showed his visitors Dick's two scrawled messages, and explained how he had acted upon their information.
Caldegard complained: Dick should have telegraphed, should have gone himself to the police in the neighbourhood.
"From what I have heard of him, Mr. Richard Bellamy is the kind that seizes on a big chance, and doesn't lose it by running after smaller ones," said Finucane. "If he has played against time and wins, they call him a genius."
"Will he succeed?" asked Caldegard.
"I am inclined to think he will bring your daughter back," replied Finucane. "But I don't advise you to be too hopeful about the drug."
"Oh, damn the drug!" interjected Caldegard.
"He has appreciated his job," explained the superintendent. "He's not after side issues. He isn't even out to catch a man who's committed a crime—only to prevent a crime being committed."