The Secret of Chimneys (1925)

29 Further Explanations

"You owe us an explanation, I think, Mr. Cade," said Herman Isaacstein, somewhat later in the evening.

"There's nothing much to explain," said Anthony modestly. "I went to Dover and Fish followed me under the impression that I was King Victor. We found a mysterious stranger imprisoned there, and as soon as we heard his story we knew where we were. The same idea again, you see. The real man kidnapped, and the false one—in this case King Victor himself—takes his place. But it seems that Battle here always thought there was something fishy about his French colleague, and wired to Paris for his fingerprints and other means of identification."

"Ah!" cried the Baron. "The fingerprints. The Bertillon measurements that that scoundrel talked about?"

"It was a clever idea," said Anthony. "I admired it so much that I felt forced to play up. Besides, my doing so puzzled the false Lemoine enormously. You see, as soon as I had given the tip about the 'rows' and where the jewel really was, he was keen to pass on the news to his accomplice, and at the same time to keep us all in that room. The note was really to Mademoiselle Brun. He told Tredwell to deliver it at once, and Tredwell did so by taking it upstairs to the schoolroom. Lemoine accused me of being King Victor, by that means creating a diversion and preventing anyone from leaving the room. By the time all that had been cleared up and we adjourned to the library to look for the stone, he flattered himself that the stone would be no longer there to find!"

George cleared his throat.

"I must say, Mr. Cade," he said pompously, "that I consider your action in that matter highly reprehensible. If the slightest hitch had occurred in your plans, one of our national possessions might have disappeared beyond the hope of recovery. It was foolhardy, Mr. Cade, reprehensibly foolhardy."

"I guess you haven't tumbled to the little idea, Mr. Lomax," said the drawling voice of Mr. Fish. "That historic diamond was never behind the books in the library."

"Never?"

"Not on your life."

"You see," explained Anthony, "that little device of Count Stylptitch's stood for what it had originally stood for—a Rose. When that dawned upon me on Monday afternoon, I went straight to the Rose Garden. Mr. Fish had already tumbled to the same idea. If, standing with your back to the sundial, you take seven paces straight forward, then eight to the left and three to the right, you come to some bushes of a bright red rose called Richmond. The house has been ransacked to find the hiding-place, but nobody has thought of digging in the garden. I suggest a little digging party to-morrow morning."

"Then the story about the books in the library—"

"An invention of mine to trap the lady. Mr. Fish kept watch on the terrace, and whistled when the psychological moment had arrived. I may say that Mr. Fish and I established martial law at the Dover house, and prevented the Comrades from communicating with the false Lemoine. He sent them an order to clear out, and word was conveyed to him that this had been done. So he went happily ahead with his plans for denouncing me."

"Well, well," said Lord Caterham cheerfully, "everything seems to have been cleared up most satisfactorily."

"Everything but one thing," said Mr. Isaacstein.

"What is that?"

The great financier looked steadily at Anthony.

"What did you get me down here for? Just to assist at a dramatic scene as an interested onlooker."

Anthony shook his head.

"No, Mr. Isaacstein. You are a busy man whose time is money. Why did you come down here originally?"