Next day he called upon the advocate, and made inquiry regarding his brother. Signor Rossi, however, replied that he had heard nothing of him since his departure for London.
Then Falconer retold the strange story of the amazing farewell message, and his subsequent disappearance.
“Can you offer any suggestion concerning the extraordinary precaution he took to mislead me as to where he was staying in London?” inquired Geoffrey.
The advocate reflected.
“He may have been in fear of some enemy or other.”
“Then he had enemies?” asked the Englishman quickly.
“Ah! That I cannot tell. If he had, he never mentioned them to me.”
“Neither did he to me,” Falconer said. “But he was the last man in the world to have enemies, I should have thought. The police have taken up the inquiry, and one of the reasons I am here is to obtain his photograph—if you have one.”
“Fortunately I have a recent one. He sent it to me from Rome six months ago,” answered Enrico’s brother, who produced from a drawer a good cabinet portrait.
“Excellent!” exclaimed Falconer. “We will reproduce it and circulate it as soon as I get back to London. Poor Enrico! There can be no doubt that he has fallen a victim of some very cleverly-conceived plot. I only hope I shall be successful in unravelling it.”