"Why don't you apply to Scotland Yard for assistance?" asked Byrne, after a pause.
"I have private reasons for not doing so," answered Gerald. "But there is no reason why you should not treat me as your client in this matter, and endeavour to obtain this information for me either from Scotland Yard or elsewhere."
"Hum! Such inquiries, whether successful or unsuccessful, cost money."
"Get me the information I ask for, or even show me that you have done your best to get it but have failed, and we shall not quarrel about the price."
"But the man may have died years ago, or, being a foreigner, he may be living in some little town on the continent, in which case our inquiries could hardly hope to be successful."
"Jacoby was alive, and well, and in London only three weeks ago."
"Oh, come, there's something tangible about a fact like that. And you know nothing more concerning him?"
"Absolutely nothing."
Mr. Byrne, with due solemnity and deliberation, proceeded to charge and light a long-stemmed pipe with a painted China bowl, which stood propped against the chimney-piece ready to his hand.
"I will be candid with you, Mr. Warburton," he said, after a few preliminary puffs. "I don't anticipate that there will be so much difficulty in tracing this man Jacoby as there might be in the case of a great many other people."