They walked back to the house; here the two Scotland Yard men who were on guard outside the house reported that Mrs. Lansdown had opened the window of her room and had asked if she could be called at six in the morning.
“Let us go inside,” said Havelock; “we shall disturb them with our voices.”
They went back to the dining-hall and Havelock ordered up a quart of rare champagne. The hand that raised the glass to his lips trembled a little. The strain, he admitted, was beginning to tell upon him.
“Whatever happens, I am through with the Selford estate from tonight,” he said; “and if this wretched young man does turn up—and I very much doubt whether he will keep his appointment—I shall hand him over my trust with the greatest relief.”
“In which room are you sleeping?” asked Dick.
“I have chosen one of the wing rooms that faces up the corridor. It is part of the suite which the late Lord Selford occupied, and is by far the most comfortable. Though I’m not so sure it is the safest, because I’m rather isolated. I wanted to suggest that you have a man in the corridor.”
“I’ve already arranged that,” said Sneed, putting down his glass and smacking his lips with relish. “That’s good wine. I don’t think I have tasted anything better.”
“Could you drink another bottle?” said Mr. Havelock hopefully, and Sneed chuckled.
“You want an excuse to open another bottle, Mr. Havelock!” he accused. “And I’ll give it to you!”
Under the influence of the second bottle of wine the lawyer became more his normal self.
“The matter is still a tangle to me,” he said. “What Cody had to do with Selford, or in what manner this wretched Italian—”
“Greek,” said Sneed quietly. “He calls himself Italian, but he’s of Greek origin; I’ve established that fact. As to their connection, I’ll tell you something.” He folded his arms on the table and leaned across. “You remember sending Lord Selford to school?” he said slowly.
“To a private school—yes.” Mr. Havelock was patently astonished at the question.
“Do you remember the name of the schoolmaster?”
Havelock frowned.
“I think I do,” he said slowly. “Mr. Bertram.”
“He used to be Bertram, but later he took the name of Cody,” said Sneed, and the other man’s jaw dropped.
“Cody?” he said incredulously. “Do you mean to say that Cody and Bertram, Selford’s tutor, are one and the same person?”
It was Dick who answered.
“And now let me ask you a question, Mr. Havelock. When this boy was quite young, had he a nurse?”
“Why, of course,” replied Havelock.
“Do you remember her name?”
Again the lawyer searched his memory.
“I can’t be sure, but I have an idea it was Crowther or some such name.”
“Cawler?” suggested Dick.
“Yes, I think it was.” The lawyer thought a while. “I’m certain it was. The name is familiar to me. I’ve heard of some other person called Cawler. Of course, Cody’s chauffeur!”
“She was Cawler’s aunt,” said Dick. “Originally she was a nurse in the employ of the late Lord Selford, and she had charge of the boy. Does it strike you as significant that Cody should marry this uneducated and uncouth woman?”
There was a deep silence.
“How did you find this out?”
“By an examination of Cody’s papers. Whoever murdered that wretched man carried away all the documents that were in his desk. But they omitted to search a box in which Mrs. Cody kept her private treasures. Probably they thought she was not the type of woman who would keep any private correspondence; but the letters we found leave no doubt at all that she was Lord Selford’s nurse, and that Cody was his tutor. You’ve never seen Cody?”
Havelock shook his head.
“Are you also aware,” said Dick slowly, “that Stalletti was, on two occasions, called in to Selford Manor in his capacity as a medical man to treat Lord Selford for alcoholism?”
“You amaze me!” gasped the lawyer. “Selford’s doctor was Sir John Finton. I never knew that he had a local man. When did you learn all this?”
Dick looked at Sneed, who took out his pocket-case, selected a paper, and passed it across to the lawyer. It was the paper Dick had found in the box.
“But in what way do these affect the present Lord Selford and his wanderings?” asked Havelock in a tone of wonder. “The thing is inexplicable! The more information I get on this subject, the more obscure the whole affair seems to be!”
“Lord Selford will tell us that in the morning,” said Dick briskly and looked at his watch. “And now I think we’ll go to bed. I am a very tired man.”
Sneed dragged himself from the table and flopped into a deep chair before the fire, which had been lighted in their absence.
“This is my pitch, and it is going to take a good man to get me out of it!”
XXIX
It was half past ten when Dick and the lawyer went upstairs to their rooms, and after he had seen Mr. Havelock safely in his suite and had heard the key turned, he went into his own apartment, shut and locked the door, and lit a candle.
He waited ten minutes and then, noiselessly unlocking the door, he stepped out into the corridor. The detective on duty saluted him silently as he took out the key and relocked the door from the outside. Then he passed down the stairs and into the hall, where Sneed was waiting for him. Without a word, Dick unfastened the door of the room in which Sybil had seen the strange apparition, and they went in together.
The blinds here had been drawn by the caretaker; one of these, at the farther end of the room, Dick raised and pulled back the curtain.
“Wait in the hall, Sneed, and don’t so much as cough
