"We can do nothing," she said, "except go straight to Scotland Yard and put the whole matter in the hands of the police. You will please come with me, Dr. Armytage--Geoffrey too. To us, of course, the evidence is overwhelming: look at it, from the Harmsworth case onward--" and she stopped suddenly and looked at the doctor. "Good heavens! I never thought of that!" she said.
"I, as you may imagine, have thought a good deal of that," he said.
"Is it possible by any means to get hold of this man Sanders?" asked Lady Oxted at length.
"Get me a hansom," she said to the man who answered the bell.
"I should prefer to try that first," said the doctor, "and I will see what I can do. It may be possible to buy the man; he may be scamp enough to be venal. But if we have to go to Scotland Yard, we have to go to Scotland Yard. But for the moment we need not; Harry is safe with you for ten days more, and Mr. Francis is not thinking of leaving London for ten days. Something, perhaps, may turn up in the interval. If not, I am ready."
Lady Oxted felt that no words could meet the situation, and did not make the attempt.
"Then the hansom shall take me to the station instead," she said. "I have just time to catch my train.--Drive with me there, Geoffrey."
"Please let me hear from you, Dr. Armytage," she said, "or if you have any communication to make which had better not be written, come down to Oxted, or wire for me to come up. At present, then, there is nothing more to be said."
She shook hands, and the three went out through the hall and across the broad pavement to where the hansom was waiting. Lady Oxted got in first, and Geoffrey was already on the step to follow, when a man crossing the road came from behind the hansom and stepped on to the pavement close to where the doctor was standing.
"Dear fellow," said a very familiar voice, "what a glorious afternoon!"
The thing was so sudden that the doctor had literally no time to lose his nerve.
"Get in and don't look round," he said very low to Geoffrey.
But he was too late. At the sound of that voice, Geoffrey had already looked round, and he and Mr. Francis for one stricken moment stared at each other. But the pleasant smile did not fade from the old man's face; rather, it seemed fixed there.