“What!”
“With the most perfect safety, I assure you. I had not yet communicated with the Monte Carlo police.”
“That so? But afterwards?”
“Oh, afterwards, I should have pinched you all, of course!”
“There you are!” cried Brentin; “we knew that, mighty well. No, sir! There are no flies on us. You gave us a fright, Mr. Bailey Thompson, and we, I guess, have given you one. But no real damage has been done to either party. Let us cry quits. Your hand, sir!”
The simple fellow shook his hand obediently, and, polite as ever, bowed to the ladies. My sister he already knew. She smiled at him and said:
“But how on earth have you got here, Mr. Bailey Thompson? We all understood you were going to the Balearic Isles.”
“I know nothing of my original destination, madam,” the detective replied. “I only know that after steaming for some few hours in one direction, Mr. Van Ginkel suddenly bouted ship and went full speed in the other.”
“But why, I wonder?”
“Some matter, I understood from the captain, connected with his divorced wife.”