They went on from room to room. Tavernake, recovering himself
rapidly, master of his subject, was fluent and practical. The
woman listened, with only a terse remark here and there. Once
more they stood in the hall.
"Is there anything else you would like to see?" he asked.
"Nothing," she replied, "but there is one thing more I have to
say."
He waited in stolid silence.
"Only a week ago," she went on, looking him in the face, "I told
a man who is what you call, I think, an inquiry agent, that I
would give a hundred pounds if he could discover that young woman
for me within twenty-four hours."
Tavernake started, and the smile came back to the lips of Mrs.
Wenham Gardner. After all, perhaps she had found the way!
"A hundred pounds is a great deal of money," he said
thoughtfully.
She shrugged her shoulders.
"Not so very much," she replied. "About a fortnight's rent of
this house, Mr. Tavernake."
"Is the offer still open?" he asked.
She looked into his eyes, and her face had once more the
beautiful ingenuousness of a child.
"Mr. Tavernake," she said, "the offer is still open. Get into
the car with me and drive back to my rooms at the Milan Court,
and I will give you a cheque for a hundred pounds at once. It
will be very easily earned and you may just as well take it, for
now I know where you are employed, I could have you followed day
by day until I discover for myself what you are so foolishly
concealing.
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