"Won't your lordship sit down?" he said.

The Earl accepted the invitation and looked from one man to the other. A sudden impression crossed his mind--never, he thought, were there two men from whom it was so difficult to get a word as these Chestermarkes--who had such a queer habit of staring in silence at one!

"The--the housekeeper appears to have run away," he said haltingly.

"That's--somewhat queer, isn't it?"

"We understand Mrs. Carswell has left the house--and the town," replied Gabriel. "As to it's being queer--well, all this is queer!"

"And--all of a piece!" remarked Joseph.

The Earl was glad that the junior partner made that remark, and he turned to him.

"I understand you saw her--and spoke to her--just before she left, this morning?" he said hesitatingly. "Did she--er--give you the impression of being--shall we say, uneasy?"

"I certainly saw her--and spoke to her," a.s.serted Joseph. "I went to scold her. I had given her orders that no one was to be allowed access to certain rooms in the house, and that we were not to be bothered by callers. She fetched me out to see Miss Fosd.y.k.e--I went to scold her for that. We had our reasons for not permitting access to those rooms. They have, of course, been frustrated."

"But at any rate some good's come of it," observed the Earl, pointing to his casket. "This has been found. And--in the housekeeper's bedroom.

Hidden! And--she's gone. What do you think of it, gentlemen?"

Gabriel spread his hands and shook his head. But Joseph answered readily.

"I should think," he replied, "that's she's gone to meet Horbury."

The Earl started, glancing keenly from one partner to the other.

"Then--you still think that Horbury is guilty of--of dishonesty!" he exclaimed. "Really, I--dear me, such an absolutely upright, honourable man----"

"Surface!" said Joseph quietly. "Surface! On the surface, my lord."

The Earl's face flushed a little with palpable displeasure, and he turned from the junior to the senior partner.

"Very good of your lordship," said Gabriel, with the faintest suggestion of a smile. "But--a man's honesty is bounded by his necessity. We, of course, are better acquainted with our late manager's qualities--now."

"You have discovered--something?" asked the Earl anxiously.

"Up to now," replied Gabriel, "we have kept things to ourselves. But we don't mind giving your lordship a little--just a little--information.

There is no doubt that Horbury had, for some time past, engaged in speculation in stocks and shares--none whatever!"

"To a considerable extent," added Joseph.

"And--unsuccessfully?" inquired the Earl.

"We are not yet quite sure of the details," answered Gabriel. "The mere fact is enough. Of course, no man in his position has any right to speculate. Had we known that he speculated----"

"He would have been discharged from our service," said Joseph. "No banker can retain the services of a manager who--gambles."

The Earl began to feel almost as uncomfortable as if these two men were charging him with improper transactions. He was a man of simple mind and ideas, and he supposed the Chestermarkes knew what they were talking about.

"Then you think that this sudden disappearance----" he said.

"In the history of banking--unwritten, possibly," remarked Joseph, "there are many similar instances. No end of them, most likely. Bank managers enjoy vast opportunities of stealing, my lord! And the man who is best trusted has more opportunities than the man who's watched. We never suspected--and so we never watched."

"You have heard of the stranger who came to the town on Sat.u.r.day night, and is believed to have telephoned from the Station Hotel to Horbury?"

asked the Earl. "What of him?"

"We have heard," answered Gabriel. "We don't know any more. We don't know any such person--from the description. But we have no doubt he did meet Horbury--and that his visit had something--probably everything--to do with Horbury's disappearance."

"But how could he disappear?" asked the Earl. "I mean to say--how could such a well-known man disappear so completely, without anybody knowing of it? It seems impossible!"

"If your lordship will think for a moment," said Joseph, "you will see that it is not merely not impossible, but very easy. Horbury was a great pedestrian--he used to boast of his thirty and forty mile walks. Now we are well within twenty miles of Ecclesborough. Ecclesborough is a very big town. What was there to prevent Horbury, during Sat.u.r.day night, from walking across country to Ecclesborough? Nothing! If, after interviewing that strange man, he decided to clear out at once, he'd nothing to do but set off--over a very lonely stretch of country, every inch of which he knew--to Ecclesborough: he would be in Ecclesborough by an early hour in the morning. Now in Ecclesborough there are three stations--big stations. He could get away from any one of them--what booking-clerk or railway official would pay any particular attention to him? The thing is--ridiculously easy!"

"What of the other man?" asked the Earl. "If there were two men--together--at an early hour--eh?"

"They need not have caught a train at a very early hour," replied Joseph. "They need not have been together when they caught any train. I don't say they went together--I don't say they went to Ecclesborough--I don't say they caught a train: I only say what, it must be obvious, they easily could do without attracting attention."

"The fact of Horbury's disappearance is--unchallengeable," remarked Gabriel quietly. "We--know why he disappeared."

"I should think," said Joseph, still more quietly, "that Lord Ellersdeane also knows--by now."

"No, I don't!" exclaimed the Earl, a little sharply. "I wish I did!"

Joseph pointed to the casket.

"Why have the police been officially--and officiously--searching the house, then?" he asked.

"To see if they could get any clue to his disappearance," replied the Earl.

"And they found--that!" retorted Joseph.

"In the housekeeper's room," said the Earl. "She may have appropriated the jewels."

"I think your lordship must see that that is very unlikely--without collusion between Horbury and herself," remarked Gabriel.

"Mrs. Carswell," said Joseph, "has always been more or less of a mysterious person. We know nothing about her. I don't even know where Horbury got her from. But--the probability is that they were in collusion, and that when he went, she stayed behind, to ascertain how things turned out on his disappearance; and that she fled when it began to appear that searching inquiries were to be made into which she might be drawn."

The Earl made no reply. He recognized that the Chestermarke observations and suggestions were rather more than plausible, and much as he fought against the idea of the missing manager's dishonesty, he could not deny that the circ.u.mstances as set forth by the bankers were suspicious.

"Your lordship will, of course, follow up this woman?" said Gabriel, after a brief silence.

"I suppose the police will," replied the Earl. "But--aren't you going to do anything yourselves, Mr. Chestermarke? You told me, you know, that certain securities of yours were missing."

Gabriel glanced at his nephew--and Joseph nodded.

"Oh, well!" answered Gabriel. "We don't mind telling your lordship--and if your lordship pleases, you may tell the police--we are doing something. We have, in fact, been doing something from an early hour. We have a very clever man at work just now--he has been at work since he heard from us twenty-four hours ago. But--our ideas are not those of Polke. Polke begins his inquiries here. Our inquiries--based on our knowledge--begin ... elsewhere."

"You think Horbury will be heard of--elsewhere?" suggested the Earl.

"Much more likely to be heard of elsewhere than here, my lord!" a.s.serted Gabriel.