"I am here," I answered. "How are you, Ralph?"

"I am all right," he said. "Rather better than usual, in fact. Where on earth have you been to all day? I have rung up four times."

"I have been motoring with Jacky," I told him. "We have been for rather a long run. Have you been wanting me?"

"Yes!" he answered. "I have had a very curious cable from d.i.c.ky which I can't understand. I am sorry to bother you, but I think you had better come up to town by the first train in the morning. It's something to do with these Deloras."

"The devil it is!" I exclaimed. "I'll come, Ralph. I shall motor to Norwich, and catch the eight o'clock. Could you give me an idea of what it is?"

"I think I'd rather not over the telephone," Ralph declared, after a moment's hesitation.

"Don't be an idiot!" I answered. "I am really very much interested."

"It's a queer business," Ralph said, "but it will keep until to-morrow. I shall send the car for you to Liverpool Street, and you had better come straight to me."

"d.i.c.ky is all right, I hope?" I asked.

"d.i.c.ky's all right," Ralph answered. "What sort of sport are you having there?"

"Very fair," I answered. "Heggs sends you the figures every day, I suppose?"

"Yes!" Ralph answered. "You seem to have done very well at the birds. Till to-morrow, Austen!"

"Till to-morrow," I replied. "Good night, old chap!"

"Goodnight!"

I put down the receiver and went back to my dinner more than ever puzzled. Ralph's summons, I felt, absolved me from any promise I might have made to Delora, and I was looking eagerly forward to the morrow, when I should be once more in London. What puzzled me, however, more even than d.i.c.ky's message, was the extreme interest Ralph's tone seemed to denote. His voice sounded quite like his old self.

"Jacky," I said, as we finished dinner, "will you lend me your car to take me into Norwich to-morrow? I have to catch the eight o'clock train to town."

"I'll lend it you with pleasure," Jacky said, looking at me in amazement, "but what on earth's up?"

"Nothing," I answered. "Simply Ralph wants to see me. He isn't particularly communicative himself, but he is very anxious that I should go to town to-morrow. Somehow or other I have more confidence in your Napier than in either of our cars when it comes to catching a train at that time in the morning."

"I'll run you up to town, if you like," Jacky declared, in a burst of good-nature.

"It isn't necessary," I answered. "I shall get up quicker by train, and Ralph's going to meet me at Liverpool Street. Thanks, all the same!"

Jacky lit a cigar.

"I'll go out and tell Ferris myself," he said.

Once more Jacky's car did not fail me. Punctually at a quarter to eight we drove into Norwich Station yard. I breakfasted on the train, and reached Liverpool Street a few minutes after eleven. I found Ralph's big Panhard there, but Ralph himself had not come.

"His Lordship is expecting you at the hotel, sir," the chauffeur told me. "He would have come down himself, but he was expecting a caller."

In less than half an hour I was in my brother's sitting-room. Ralph greeted me cordially.

"Austen," he said, "I am not at all sure that I have not brought you up on rather a fool's errand, but you seemed rather mystified yourself about these Deloras. Here's the cable from d.i.c.ky. What do you make of it? Must have cost him something, extravagant young beggar!"

He pa.s.sed it across to me. I read it out aloud.

DELORA HERE PUZZLED NOT HEARING FROM BROTHER SHOULD BE IN LONDON IMPORTANT BUSINESS FEARS SOMETHING WRONG ALL CODED CABLES REMAIN UNANSWERED INQUIRE MILAN HOTEL IF POSSIBLE FIND DELORA BEG HIM CABLE AT ONCE IN CHALDEAN CODE.

I read the cable through three times.

"May I take this, Ralph?" I said. "I will go round to the Milan at once."

"Certainly," Ralph answered. "I will leave the matter entirely in your hands. It seems as though there were something queer about it."

"There is something queer going on, Ralph," I a.s.sured him. "I have found out as much as that myself. Exactly what it means I can't fathom. To tell you the truth, it has been taking a lot of my time lately, and I know very little more than when I started."

"It's the young lady, I suppose," Ralph remarked thoughtfully.

I nodded.

"I am not over keen about interfering in other people's concerns, Ralph," I said. "You know that. It's the girl, of course, and I am afraid, I am very much afraid, that there is something wrong."

"Anyhow," Ralph said, "it doesn't follow that the girl's in it."

"I am jolly certain she isn't!" I said. "What bothers me, of course, is that I hate to think of her being mixed up with anything shady. The Deloras may be great people in their own country, but I'll swear that our friend here is a wrong 'un."

"I suppose you are sure," Ralph said thoughtfully, "that he is Delora--that he is not an impostor, I mean?"

"I thought of that," I answered, "but you see there's the girl. She'd know her own uncle, wouldn't she? And she told me that she had seen him on and off for years. No, he is Delora right enough! One can't tell," I continued. "Perhaps the whole thing's crooked. Perhaps the Deloras who seem to d.i.c.ky such charming people in their own country are a different sort of people on this side. At any rate, I'm off, Ralph, with that cable. I'll look you up as soon as I have found out anything."

Ralph smiled.

"I don't believe," he said, "you are sorry to have an excuse for having another turn at this affair."

"Perhaps not," I answered.

"Take the car," Ralph called out after me. "You may find it useful."

I drove first to the small hotel where I had last seen Delora. Here, however, I was confronted with a certain difficulty. The name of Delora was quite unknown to the people. I described him carefully, however, to the landlady, and she appeared to recognize him.

"The gentleman you mean was, I think, a Mr. Henriquois. He left us the day before yesterday."

"You know where he went to?" I asked.

She shook her head.

"He asked for a Continental time-table," she said, "but he gave no address, nor did he tell any one of his intentions. He was a gentleman that kept himself to himself," she remarked, looking at me a little curiously.

I thanked the woman and departed. Delora was scarcely likely to have left behind any reliable details of his intentions at such a place. I drove on to the Milan, and entered the Court with a curious little thrill of interest. The hall-porter welcomed me with a smile.

"Glad to see you back again, Captain Rotherby," he said. "Have you any luggage?"