Sir Geoffrey looked down, and, surely enough, on the end of Le Gautier’s pendant was the fac-simile of the medal he held in his hand.
‘Bless me, what an extraordinary thing!’ the startled baronet exclaimed. ‘So it is! Perhaps you do not mind telling me where you procured yours?’
‘It was given to me,’ Le Gautier replied, with an enigmatic smile. ‘It could not help you, if I told you.—Sir Geoffrey, may I ask you to lend me this coin for a short while? I will tell you some time what I want it for.’
‘Some other time, perhaps.’—Le Gautier threw the coin into its place.—‘You see, I regard it as a valuable curiosity and relic, or perhaps I might part with it. You will pardon me.—But I forgot all about our spiritualistic discourse. As you are a medium, I will ask you’——
‘At some future time, with all the pleasure in life,’ Le Gautier interrupted hastily. ‘Meanwhile, it is getting late—past eleven now.’
As they walked back to the salon, the Frenchman was busy with his thoughts. ‘What a lucky find!’ he muttered. ‘It is the missing insignia, sure enough, and the ill-fated Ughtred Charteris is mine host’s brother. I wonder what I can make out of this? There ought to be something in it, with a feeble-minded man who believes in spiritualism, if my hand has not lost its cunning. Nous verrons.’
He showed nothing of his thoughts, however, as he parted from Enid with a smile and neatly turned compliment. It was getting late now; the streets were empty as the friends turned homeward, Salvarini bidding the others good-night and turning off in the direction of his apartments.
‘You had better change your mind, and come with us on Friday, Hector,’ Visci urged Le Gautier. ‘The baronet and his daughter are to be of the party. Throw work to the dogs for the day, and come.’
‘My dear Carlo, the thing is impossible. Do you think I should be chained here this lovely weather, if stern necessity did not compel? If possibly I can get over later in the day, I will not fail you.’
‘I am very sorry,’ Visci replied regretfully, ‘because this is the last time, in all probability, our friends will meet together for some time.’