"All the same," I observed, "I don't wonder the Duke thought I was a
meddlesome idiot."
"His Grace has probably forgiven you," Mr. Thomson remarked, "for the
Princess has relented at last. If you buy an evening paper on your way
home, you will see that they were married by special license this
afternoon."
We found plenty to think and talk about for the next few minutes. Then
Mr. Thomson, who had been leaning back in his chair, watching the stars
and listening to the music, electrified us.
"In one month," he said, "the year for which you pledged your services
to me will be up. At the end of that time we shall say good-by."
"You will not want us again?" Rose asked.
Mr. Thomson shook his head.
"Please do not consider that any reflection upon your efforts," he
begged. "During the last ten years I have had assistants in every walk
of life. No one has served me more intelligently or on the whole more
successfully than you three. The fact of the matter is that I am going
to retire."
"Retire from what?" I asked him impetuously. "Who are you? What are you?
I have never been able to make up my mind whether we have been on the
side of the sheep or the goats. How did you become interested, for
instance, in this last affair? Did the insurance companies give you a
brief? And if so, did they give it to a master criminal, to police
headquarters, or to a private detective?"
"Shall we call that Conundrum Number Six?" Mr. Thomson suggested,
watching the ash on his cigar. "You understand, of course, that we are
going to have a grand finale. You have a week in which to rest, and I
think a study of your banking account will prove that you are justified
in taking a holiday if you wish to. On next Thursday evening, at six
o'clock, I desire that all three of you will be at the rooms which you
are now occupying in Clarges Street. You will there receive a message
from me. I shall ask your help once more before I retire into private
life--and safety."
The music surged in our ears, and the froth of light conversation filled
the air. Of all the little groups of people seated about, we alone
seemed to have our faces set towards the serious things. Perhaps our
host noticed it, for he rose to his feet and drew Leonard on one side.
"If I were your age, Lister," he said, turning to me, "I should ask Miss
Mindel to drift about with me in one of those shadowy boats."
So Rose and I strolled down towards the lake.
"To think," she murmured, a little tremulously, "that very soon we shall
come to the end of our adventures!"
I drew her arm through mine. The sound of the music was growing fainter
in the distance and the ripple of the water was in our ears.
"Or to the beginning," I whispered.