Cyril was too preoccupied to notice that the other"s manner was several degrees colder than it had been on his arrival.
"I fear not." Cyril felt guiltily conscious that he was prevaricating.
"You astonish me. I confess I am disappointed. Yes, very much so. But it will come back to her--I am sure it will."
"I say, doctor, how long do you think my wife will have to remain here?"
"No longer than she wishes to. She could be moved to-morrow, if necessary, but I advise waiting till the day after."
"You are sure it won"t hurt her?" insisted Cyril anxiously.
"Quite. In fact, the sooner Lady Wilmersley resumes her normal life the better."
"How soon will I be able to talk freely to her?" Cyril asked.
"That depends largely on how she progresses, but not before a month at the earliest. By the way, Lord Wilmersley, I want you to take charge of Lady Wilmersley"s bag. The contents were too valuable to be left about; so after taking out her toilet articles, the nurse brought it to me."
"Ah! and--and what was in the bag?" asked Cyril fearfully.
"Lady Wilmersley"s jewels, of course."
Jewels! This was terrible. If they were those belonging to his cousin, their description had been published in every paper in the kingdom. It was a miracle that Smith had not recognised them.
"Of course," Cyril managed to stammer.
The doctor went to a safe and taking out a cheap, black bag handed it to Cyril.
"I should like you, please, to see if they are all there," he said.
"That isn"t the least necessary," Cyril hastened to a.s.sure him.
"You would greatly oblige me by doing so."
"I"m quite sure they are all right; besides if any are missing, they were probably stolen in Paris," said Cyril.
"But I insist." Stuart-Smith was nothing if not persistent. His keen eyes had noted Cyril"s agitation and his reluctance to open the bag made the doctor all the more determined to force him to do so.
But Cyril was too quick for him. Seizing the bag, he made for the door.
"I"ll come back to-morrow," he cried over his shoulder, as he hurried unceremoniously out of the room and out of the house.
A disreputable-looking man stood at the door of his waiting taxi and obsequiously opened it. Shouting his address to the driver, Cyril flung himself into the car and waved the beggar impatiently away.
No sooner were they in motion than Cyril hastened to open the bag. A brown paper parcel lay at the bottom of it. He undid the string with trembling fingers. Yes, it was as he feared--a part, if not all, of the Wilmersley jewels lay before him.
"Give me a penny, for the love of Gawd," begged a hoa.r.s.e voice at his elbow. The beggar was still clinging to the step and his villainous face was within a foot of the jewels.
Cyril felt himself grow cold with apprehension. The fellow knew who he was, and followed him. He was a detective!
"A gen"lman like you could well spare a poor man a penny," the fellow whined, but there was a note of menace in his voice. Cyril tried to get a good look at him, but the light was too dim for him to distinguish his features clearly.
Hastily covering the jewels, Cyril thrust a coin into the grimy hand.
"Go!" he commanded, "go, or I"ll call the police."
The man sank out of sight.
"My poor little girl, my poor little girl," murmured Cyril disconsolately, as he glanced once more at the incriminating jewels.
CHAPTER X
THE TWO FRENCHMEN
"You must be mad, Cyril! No sane man could have got into such a mess!"
cried Guy Campbell, excitedly pounding his fat knee with his podgy hand.
Cyril had been so disturbed by the finding of the Wilmersley jewels that he had at last decided that he must confide his troubles to some one. He realised that the time had come when he needed not only advice but a.s.sistance. He was now so convinced that he was being watched that he had fled to his club for safety. There, at all events, he felt comparatively safe from prying eyes, and it was there in a secluded corner that he poured his tale of woe into his friend"s astonished ears.
"You must be mad," the latter repeated.
"If that is all you can find to say, I am sorry I told you," exclaimed Cyril irritably.
"It"s a jolly good thing you did! Why, you are no more fit to take care of yourself than a new-born baby." Guy"s chubby face expressed such genuine concern that Cyril relaxed a little.
"Perhaps I"ve been a bit of an a.s.s, but really I don"t see what else I could have done."
"No, don"t suppose you do," said Guy, regarding Cyril with pitying admiration.
"Oh, don"t rub it in! The question now is not what I ought to have done, but what am I to do now?"
"What do you intend to do?"
"I haven"t the slightest idea. I want your advice."
"Oh, no, you don"t! Why, you wouldn"t even listen to a sensible suggestion."
"What do you call a sensible suggestion?" Cyril cautiously inquired.
"To get the girl out of the nursing home and lose her. And it ought to be done P. D. Q., as the Americans say."
"I shall certainly do nothing of the sort."
"Exactly," cried Campbell triumphantly. "I know you, Lord Quixote; you have some crazy plan in your head. Out with it."
"I haven"t a plan, I tell you. Now as I am being followed----"