"I am well aware of what secret is hidden there, without gaining an entrance," I responded.
"You tell me that the woman is dead," he observed. "Well, I do not doubt you; but I nevertheless consider it strange that if she is dead, and the persons concerned in her decease wished to get rid of the body, they have not already dropped it overboard. Such a matter would not be at all difficult in the night. Why would Keppel, a parsimonious man, consent to the total destruction of a yacht of the costly character of the Vispera? It is utterly unreasonable."
"From one point of view I quite agree with you," I argued; "but there may be further reasons why the yacht should be cast away—reasons of which we are ignorant."
"But is it reasonable that the owner of a yacht would enter the port of Leghorn with a body on board?" he queried. "No. The officials are too prying. Depend upon it, the body is no longer on board. They've got rid of the evidence of the crime—Keppel and this unknown accomplice of his."
"Then if such is the truth, why should they plot to cast the vessel away?"
"That is exactly my argument. I am convinced that although the question of blowing up the Vispera may have been mooted, the project has now been abandoned. At first it appeared to me more likely that Keppel and his associate would place some explosive on board and make an excuse for not sailing in the vessel. But on reflection it seems obvious that the body cannot now be on board, and therefore no end would be gained by casting the ship away. No, there is no danger in returning on board—none whatever. True, Keppel is very eccentric, like many man of great wealth, and may sail again at any moment; but it is equally certain that the dastardly project is not to be put into execution."
"Then you believe that all is quite safe on board?"
"I am quite convinced of it. Your best plan of action, if you agree to combine your efforts with my own, is to return and use every means to gain an entrance to the deck-house. I have not the slightest expectation that you will discover any actual trace of the crime, but I somehow feel confident that what it contains will give us some clue."
"A clue to the mystery in Nice?" I inquired eagerly.
"Yes," he responded, not without some hesitation. "I believe that we shall gain knowledge from that carefully-guarded cabin."