Harcutt and Densham exchanged quick glances. Wolfenden had asked his question quietly, but it was evidently what he had come to know.
"Yes," Harcutt said, "we both did. They are evidently people of some consequence. They went first to the house of the Russian Ambassador, Prince Lobenski."
Wolfenden swore to himself softly. He could have been there. He made a mental note to leave a card at the Embassy that afternoon.
"Afterwards they drove to a house in Chilton Gardens, Kensington, where they remained."
"The presumption being, then----" Wolfenden began.
"That they live there," Harcutt put in. "In fact, I may say that we ascertained that definitely. The man's name is 'Sabin,' and the girl is reputed to be his niece. Now you know as much as we do. The relationship, however, is little more than a surmise."
"Did either of you go to the reception?" Wolfenden asked.
"You were there! Then why didn't you make their acquaintance?"
"I asked for an introduction to the girl," he said, "and was politely declined. She was under the special charge of the Princess, and was presented to no one."
"He was talking all the time to Baron von Knigenstein, the German Ambassador. They did not stay long."
"It seems to me," he said, "that you had an excellent opportunity and let it go."
Harcutt threw his cigarette into the fire with an impatient gesture.
"You may think so," he said. "All I can say is, that if you had been there yourself, you could have done no more. At any rate, we have no particular difficulty now in finding out who this mysterious Mr. Sabin and the girl are. We may assume that there is a relationship," he added, "or they would scarcely have been at the Embassy, where, as a rule, the guests make up in respectability what they lack in brilliancy."
"As to the relationship," Wolfenden said, "I am quite prepared to take that for granted. I, for one, never doubted it."
"That," Harcutt remarked, "is because you are young, and a little quixotic. When you have lived as long as I have you will doubt everything. You will take nothing for granted unless you desire to live for ever amongst the ruins of your shattered enthusiasms. If you are wise, you will always assume that your swans are geese until you have proved them to be swans."