Paul smiled. "I stand corrected. There isn't really much difference, is there?"

"Not much," replied Jim. "Just that I am aware that Silas and Clement, whether rightly or wrongly, disliked the scheme."

"Your cousin Silas," countered Paul, "was an old man with strong prejudices, and your cousin Clement, if I may say so, was handicapped by a wife who could never get enough money to spend.

Do forgive me if I am being too frank!"

"Not at all," said Jim with equal courtesy. "You may very likely be right in all you say of this scheme. But I'm sure you'll realise that, in the face of my cousins' known dislike of it, I should have to be a thundering fool to go into it without knowing anything more about it than what you've told me."

"You are as cautious as your cousins, I see. May I point out to you that while you are-er-acquiring a knowledge of the business, the opportunity to expand it will have gone?

Roberts has been very patient, but he is not acting for himself and cannot be expected to wait for ever."

"Certainly," said Jim. "But may I in my turn remind you that I came into this inheritance without the least warning only two days ago? From what I've seen of Roberts, I should say he would be the last person to want to hustle me into the affair without going into it thoroughly first."

Paul Mansell uncrossed his legs and rose. "Then I am to tell my father that the matter must still rest in abeyance?"

"That's about the size of it," said Jim. "I shall hope to see Mr. Mansell in a day or two. There's more than this point to be discussed. You'll stay to tea, won't you?"

"I'm afraid I must get back to the office, thanks. My brother-in-law will no doubt call for his family on his way home from the golf course." He paused, and his eyes glinted a little. "By the way, I understand that I have to congratulate you on becoming engaged to Patricia Allison?"

"Thanks very much, yes," said Jim.

"You are fortunate," smiled Paul. "A charming girl-so sensible too! Do offer her my congratulations! One ought not to congratulate the lady, I believe, but in this case I really think congratulations are due to her."

"You almost overwhelm me," said Jim pleasantly and held the door open for him to pa.s.s out into the hall.

He went out into the porch to see his visitor drive away and was about to go back into the house when a taxi drove up the avenue and set down a middle-aged gentleman of lean proportions and expensive tailoring, who said placidly: "Ah, there you are! I fancy I must have forgotten to let you know I was coming."

"Hullo, Adrian!" said Jim, stepping forward to greet the newcomer. "Where on earth did you spring from? I thought you were in Scotland!"

CHAPTER EIGHT.

Sir Adrian Harte paid the taxi driver, saw his suitcases safely in the hands of Pritchard, who had appeared as if by magic at the sound of an approaching car, and walked into the house beside his stepson. "My dear boy, in this weather?" he asked plaintively.

Jim, no fisherman, apologised. "I forgot. When did you get back to town?"

"Yesterday evening," replied Sir Adrian. "I thought I had better come down and see what was happening here." He put his monocle into his eye and glanced at Jim with a pained, faintly inquiring expression. "Rather unusual, isn't it?"

"It is a bit, sir," said Jim. "Not altogether pleasant, either."

"Ah no, I dare say not," agreed Sir Adrian. "I have never been mixed up in a murder case myself, but I imagine the situation must be very disagreeable. A pity you should have been here at the time. I don't know what your mother will say."

"How is Mother?" asked Jim. "Have you had any news of her?"

"No," said Sir Adrian, preceding him into the library, "not a word. I wondered whether you might not have had a letter."

"Nothing since the card she sent from that illegible address. What do you suppose can have happened to her?"

"I've no idea," replied Sir Adrian. "If your mother were not such an erratic letter-writer, I should consider it really rather disturbing. However, I've no doubt there is some perfectly ordinary explanation for her silence." He sank into a chair. "Well, my dear boy, you had better tell me all about it. I imagine you are not, at the moment, in a very enviable position."

"No, not entirely," said Jim. "The evidence all seems to point my way. I don't think the police can bring themselves to believe that I really had no idea I was the next heir."

"I confess I was rather surprised that you were apparently ignorant of the fact," remarked Sir Adrian.

"Did you know, sir?"

"Oh yes; I'm sure your mother told me the rights of it years ago. If it is not a vulgar question, how much do you inherit?"

"I'm not altogether sure. Cousin Silas left close on a quarter of a million, but the death duties are colossal."

"I expect there will be enough left for your simple needs," said Sir Adrian.

Jim grinned. "More than enough, I should think. But my needs aren't going to be quite so simple in the future. I'm engaged to be married."

Sir Adrian looked mildly surprised. "Dear me, are you? I don't think you mentioned that in your letter, did you?"

"No, I didn't think it went well, cheek by jowl with the announcement of Clement's death."

"Ah, artistic discrimination! Have I the pleasure of knowing the lady?"

"Rather, sir! It's Patricia Allison, Aunt Emily's companion."

Sir Adrian frowned slightly. "I don't think I've met her."

"Yes, you have, Adrian, the last time you were here."

"If you say so, no doubt it is so. I find, as I grow older, that people make very little impression on me. Is this what your mother would consider a suitable alliance?"

"Very much so, I a.s.sure you."

"I feel sure you know your own business best," said Sir Adrian. "By the way, didn't I send Timothy here?"

"You did, and he's very much here."

"Yes, I thought I did. I couldn't recall, when I got back to town, what arrangements I had made, but it occurred to me on the train that I must have sent him here. To turn to more important matters, have you come across old Mr. Kane's stamp collection?"

"No, had he got one?"

"My dear Jim!" Sir Adrian sounded genuinely shocked. "He had a unique collection. I have on more than one occasion offered to buy at least three of the specimens from Silas, who, I may say, had no feeling for them other than a purely Kane desire to hold fast to his possessions. I will buy them from you, if you like to sell."

"Good Lord, Adrian, you can have the whole collection, if you want it! It doesn't mean a thing to me."

"I shan't impose on your innocence as much as that," replied Sir Adrian with a faint smile.

The door opened at this moment to admit Timothy, who bounced in, saying: "I say, Jim, I've asked Mr. Roberts-oh, hullo, Father! I didn't see you." He went up to shake his parent by the hand.

"I quite thought you'd gone to Scotland. How did you get here?"

"My arrival seems to cause you and Jim a great deal of quite unmerited surprise," said Sir Adrian. "I had five days of unbroken sunshine and then came home."

"Oh, I see! I say, Jim, I've asked Mr. Roberts in to tea. Is it all right? I met him outside the cinema, and he asked whether I thought you'd mind him coming up to see you some time. You don't, do you? I told him I knew you wouldn't."

"And, as you see, I took him at his word and ventured to come," said Oscar Roberts from the open doorway. "But you've only to say the word and I'll catch the next bus back to Portlaw."

"Of course not! Do come in!" said Jim. "Adrian, may I introduce Mr. Roberts? My stepfather, Sir Adrian Harte, sir."

"Pleased to meet you, Sir Adrian. Your son and I have been getting along fine together-or rather we were till this durned sergeant from Scotland Yard came and cut me right out of the picture,"

he added with a twinkle.

"Oh, I say, sir, that's not fair!" protested Timothy. "It was only that I wanted to see how a detective really works."

Oscar Roberts dropped a hand on his shoulder and pressed it. "Sure you did, sonny. I was only kidding. Well, I fancy you don't want a stranger b.u.t.ting in on your family party, Mr. Kane. Maybe if I came along tomorrow--"

Sir Adrian said: "I seem to be in the way. I'm sure you would like some private conversation with my stepson, Mr. Roberts. I was just about to go up to my room. You may come with me, Timothy."

He bore Timothy off with him. Oscar Roberts took the chair his host pushed forward and said: "I've not come to persuade you into falling in with my proposition."

Jim laughed. "Thank G.o.d for that!"

"Yes, I thought you'd perhaps be receiving a visit from one or other of your partners." He accepted a cigar from the box Jim held out to him and sought in his pocket for his cutter. As he lit the cigar he said, peering at Jim through the smoke: "Say, I'd like us to be frank, Kane."

"By all means."

Roberts leaned forward to lay his dead match in the ashtray on the table. "That certainly makes it easier to say what I want to. I wouldn't like you to get me wrong over this little business deal I'm trying to put through. If I can get them, I want Kane and Mansell's nets for my firm to handle down under. But I'm not out to start a general holocaust all to get the best when the next-best will suit pretty near as well."

"I beg your pardon?" Jim stiffened a little.

The cool, calculating eyes did not waver. "Guess we'll leave it at that, Kane. There's been some mighty queer happenings in this house, and I'm bound to admit they seem to hang together a piece with my coming onto the scene. Maybe that's just a coincidence; maybe it's not. But I'd like to have you know that I'm not pressing your partners for an answer. I've a notion they'll try and put the screw on you. Well, I'm not turning it. I certainly shall be glad to get the matter settled one way or the other, but I appreciate your position, and I wouldn't be the one to push you into a deal you don't properly understand and might regret. That's no way to do business. I like to have you think it over and get some impartial advice. You won't keep me waiting any longer than is reasonable. I'll treat myself to a little vacation."

"It's extraordinarily decent of you," said Jim. "I do want time to find my feet; but isn't it asking rather a lot of you to keep you kicking your heels while I try to get abreast of this infernal net business?"

"If I see a chance of putting the deal through, I'll be content to kick my heels for a s.p.a.ce." He regarded the tip of his cigar inscrutably. "It's not uninteresting-kicking my heels in Portlaw."

"You're interested in my cousin's murder?" said Jim bluntly.

"Well"-Roberts glanced at him with a slight look of amus.e.m.e.nt-"I feel I might be responsible in a roundabout way. You'll admit it's a fairly cute little problem the police are up against."

"A filthy case. They've called in Scotland Yard now."

"Yes, I'd the pleasure of receiving a call from Superintendent Hannasyde this morning."

"I believe he's pretty good. Rather a nice chap, I thought."

"Sure. I reckon he's the competent type they breed up at Scotland Yard. He's smart enough to get right onto Silas Kane's death. The trouble is, he's got mighty little to go on. Somebody certainly handled that business well. You have to hand it to them."

"You've always thought my cousin Silas was murdered, haven't you?" Jim asked curiously.

"I wouldn't say that. I thought maybe his death would bear some more investigating than it got."

"Yes, it looks like that now; but at the time I don't think any of us suspected there might have been foul play. It's going to be investigated now all right."

"That's so; but when you get a kind of family affair like this, it always seems to me the police have to work under a big handicap. This superintendent from London's no fool, but he doesn't know the folks he's dealing with. He can find out a lot through asking questions, but he can't get to know them the way a man moving amongst them like I am can. They're just naturally on their guard with him."

"You ought to have been a detective," said Jim, laughing.

Oscar Roberts smiled but said nothing.

"Do you mind telling me," said Jim; "have you got hold of something the police haven't?"

There was a slight pause. "Why, no, I wouldn't say that," replied Roberts in his measured way.

"I'm not holding out on the police. Maybe I've got a hunch. I don't want you to feel sore at me chiselling in on what isn't, strictly speaking, any of my business. You've got to remember I was one of the first to see your cousin after he'd been shot. What's more, it sticks a bit in my head that I was to get Mr. Clement Kane's answer to my proposition that day. It looked a cinch he was going to turn me down flat. Well, he didn't get a chance to do it. Someone b.u.mped him off first. Guess that gives me an excuse for taking an interest in the case, Kane."

"Oh, I've no objection!" Jim said. "Good luck to you!"

"Thanks." Roberts uncrossed his long legs and prepared to get up. "There's just one other thing I'd like to say." He rose and hesitated for a moment. "Don't misunderstand me, Kane: I'm going on a hunch only. But I'm bound to say that, if I stood in your shoes, I'd watch out for trouble."

Jim got up, a spark of anger in his eyes. "I think your hunch is fantastic, sir; but by G.o.d, if the Mansells think they can frighten me into falling in with their d.a.m.ned schemes they've got another guess coming to them!"

Oscar Roberts chuckled. "That's the spirit. But all the same, I wouldn't sit around by open windows all by yourself, Kane. An easy target's kind of tempting."

Jim's chin jutted mulishly. "If I thought there was a word of truth in it, d.a.m.n it, I'd turn the whole Australian project down now!"

"Now, that's not what I want at all!" said Roberts. "I appreciate the way you feel, but I certainly didn't come here to put you right against my proposition."

Jim gave a reluctant laugh. "I'll try and keep an impartial mind. And thanks for the warning!

Come out and join the tea party now."

Roberts demurred a little but allowed himself to be over-persuaded. Tea had been taken out on to the terrace some minutes before, and quite a large party was already gathered there. Emily, hearing of Sir Adrian's arrival, had come down in her best black silk dress, an honour not accorded by her to many, and was sitting with him beside her, listening to his cultured, rather languid voice with a less forbidding air than usual. Sir Adrian to every Kane but Jim was the unknown quant.i.ty.

Kane instinct bade Emily despise him for a fool who had never done a stroke of work in his life; Kane sense told her that, though he might be vague and impractical, he was no fool. His conversation was strange to her but gave her pleasure; his point of view nearly always clashed with her own, but though she might pour scorn on it, secretly she respected his judgment.

Rosemary and Betty Pemble were next to each other. Betty, having spent an hour alternately sympathising with Rosemary for having been left only Clement's private fortune and agreeing with her that it wasn't as though Jim had ever done anything to deserve the inheritance of the Kane estate, and that there was a hard streak in Patricia Allison, due undoubtedly to her spinsterhood, had leaped into the front rank of Rosemary's close friends. With the reappearance of her children upon the scene, however, Betty's attention had become necessarily diverted from Rosemary. She had settled them at a small table at a discreet distance from the rest of the party and was engaged, when Jim Kane and Oscar Roberts came out on to the terrace, in hushing them whenever their voices rose to obtrusive heights, which was often, and in remonstrating with them on the size of the portions they saw fit to cram into their mouths. Occasionally she explained apologetically to Rosemary that they weren't usually a bit like this. Timothy had ensconced himself beside Patricia at the tea table. Whenever the children offended his sense of propriety he glared at his plate and muttered: "Gosh!" in accents of repulsion.

Emily greeted Oscar Roberts without much cordiality.

She was not in the habit of attempting to overcome her prejudices and saw no reason to make an exception in this case. Roberts' way of drawing his heels together and bowing as he took her hand she condemned as foreign. She knew no more disparaging adjective.