Thorndyke entered the pleasant, homely room, half office, half sitting-room and seating himself in the big armchair began to fill his pipe. In a few moments Phillip entered and sat down on a chair which commanded a view of the tiny kitchen and of “Polly,” seated on a gas ring.
“Now,” said he, “fire away. What do you want to know?”
“I want,” replied Thorndyke, “to ask you one or two questions about your yacht.”
“The deuce you do!” exclaimed Phillip. “Are you thinking of going in for a yacht yourself?”
“Not at present,” was the reply. “My questions have reference to that last trip that Purcell made in her and the first one is: When you took over the yacht after that trip, did you find her in every respect as she was before? Was there anything missing that you could not account for, or any change in her condition, or anything about her that was not quite as you expected it to be?”
Phillip looked at his visitor with undissembled surprise. “Now I wonder what makes you ask that. Have you any reason to expect that I should have found any change in her condition?”
“If you don’t mind,” said Thorndyke, “we will leave that question unanswered for the moment. I would rather not say, just now, what my object is in seeking this information. We can go into that later. Meanwhile, do you mind just answering my questions as if you were in the witness-box?”
A shade of annoyance crossed Phillip’s face. He could not imagine what possible concern Thorndyke could have with his yacht and he was inclined to resent the rather cryptic attitude of his questioner. Nevertheless he answered readily: “Of course I don’t mind. But, in fact, there is nothing to tell. I don’t remember noticing anything unusual about the yacht, and there was nothing missing, so far as I know.”
“No rope, or cordage of any kind, for instance?”
“No—at least nothing to speak of. A new ball of spunyarn had been broached. I noticed that, and I meant to ask Varney what he used it for. But there wasn’t a great deal of it gone; and I know of nothing else. Oh, wait! If I am in the witness-box I must tell the whole truth, be it never so trivial. There was a mark or stain or dirty smear of some kind on the jib. Is that any good to you?”