"Ha! here it is," said the detective gravely, "I have already noted him:
George Francisco Louis Duc de Montvillier, Marquis Poissant Lens, Baron
(of the Roman Empire) de Piento----"
"Oh, I know all that," interrupted the practical Hal, "you've copied it
out of the Almanac de Gotha."
Mr. Nape was disconcerted, but dignified. He tried to think of some
crushing rejoinder, but, failing, he contented himself with a slight
bow.
"It isn't the question of who he was or who his father was," said Hal
testily, "any fool could find that out."
Mr. Nape bowed again.
"What we--I, do want information about is"--Hal hesitated--"well, as a
matter of fact, this is how the matter stands. We want to know what he
is _going_ to do--that's it!"
Mr. Nape looked thoughtful as this tribute to his prescience was paid.
"For a week or two at any rate we would like him watched, and if he
shows any attempt at leaving the country I wish to be immediately
informed."
Mr. Nape was relieved that the services required did not verge upon the
practice of black magic, for Mr. Nape was a strict churchman.
"We thought," continued Hal, "of employing an ordinary detective but, as
I say, their charges are so high, and this duke person would be pretty
sure to notice a strange man hanging about, so we have decided to ask
you to take on the job. He would never suspect you."
Mr. Roderick Nape was on the point of indignantly refuting this
suggestion of his obscurity: it was at the tip of his tongue to inform
Mr. Hal Tanneur that his fame was widespread through Brockley, Lewisham,
Eltham, Lee, to the utmost limits of Catford, and it was next to
impossible for him to walk along the Lewisham High Road without somebody
nudging somebody else, and saying audibly, if ungrammatically, "That's
him!" But he forbore.
"Here's my address." Hal pulled a handful of letters from his pocket in
his search for a card case. "If you see this chap getting ready to
bolt, send me a wire, and you had better have some money for expenses."
Mr. Nape closed his eyes pleasantly, and waited for the conventional bag
of gold to fall heavily upon the desk, or to hear the thud of a thick
roll of notes.
"Here's ten shillings," said Hal generously; "you won't want all that,
but I don't want you to stint yourself. Take a cab if you want to, but
motor buses go almost everywhere nowadays."
Mr. Nape had had visions of special trains, but no matter.
He picked up the ten shillings with a contemptuous smile, and flicked it
carelessly into the air, catching it again with no mean skill.
"You'll remember," said Hal at parting, "I want him watched so that he
cannot get out of the country without my knowing."
"It shall be done," said Mr. Nape coldly and professionally. He said
"good-bye," to his visitor on the doorstep and walked back to his
"laboratory" slowly and importantly.
He found the scattered manuscript of his monologue and mechanically
tidied it together. He missed the dummy newspaper "agony" and looked
round for it. He saw a cutting on the floor, picked it up and put it
away with the manuscript. Then he sat down to plan out his campaign.
He had a number of disguises in his room upstairs....
Two hours later a grimy workman with a heavy moustache and a bag of
tools called, at 64 "to examine the gas fittings."