O’Hagan, raising monocle: “My dear fellow!”
The querulous torrent died away, _poco a poco_. Then:
“I had anticipated all your questions, my boy,” said O’Hagan; “and I
will deal with them in order. In the first place—No, I am _not_
acquainted with the Grand Duke! I had never seen him in my life until
you drew my attention to him outside the Folly! I have no idea what it
is that he has secured, and which he evidently apprehends someone is
likely to pursue him in order to recover!—letters and photographs,
according to his own account. Do not glare in that way, Raymond; it
makes you appear cross-eyed!”
To the door I looked hurriedly, and back to my nonchalant friend, who
swung his monocle and eyed me with an amused smile. My tongue defied me.
“If you will glance over our conversation, in retrospect,” he continued,
“you will perceive that my contributions partook of the nature of
leading questions disguised as items of information. In fact, I adopted
the tactics of an examining magistrate!
“It all rests upon this, Raymond. At the moment when you said, ‘That is
the Grand Duke John,’ you may recall that I was about to recount to you
an exploit of my ancestor, Patrick? This exploit, Raymond, was performed
before La Rochelle, and involved three of the enemy, a dozen bottles of
wine, and a game pie! The Grand Duke is the enemy in this case, my boy.
You must be aware that he is one of a group whose activities are
inimical to our interests in the Baltic. I saw my way clearly. I stepped
up and whispered to him, ‘They are following you, Duke! We will slip
into the car, unperceived amid the traffic, and explain more fully.
There must be no delay here!’”
(I inhaled noisily.)
“This was a bow at venture, Raymond. The odds against my scoring were
about ten thousand to one. But—as occurred to a certain Desmond O’Hagan
on a somewhat similar occasion—I scored! Given such premises, who after
that could err? Although I will confess that I overstepped the mark
once; but, thanks to the darkness of the car, and the corresponding
darkness prevailing in the Grand Ducal mind, I recovered! I may add,
Raymond, that our present position, though one of absorbing interest, is
delicate to a degree!”
“O’Hagan!” I broke in hotly, “this is beyond belief! Had I known, had I
dreamed, of the false position in which we were placed——”