“So it seems,” said he, with mock humility; “but fill your glass and go on, young man. Why should I want to deceive you?”
“That’s just what I want to know. Come, confess now; wasn’t there something important afoot to-day at Memmert? Something to do with the gold? You were inspecting it, sorting it, weighing it? Or _I_ know! You were transporting it secretly to the mainland?”
“Not a very good day for that! But softly, Herr Carruthers; no fishing for admissions. Who said we had found any gold?”
“That’s better! Nothing like candour, my young investigator. But I am afraid, having no authority, I cannot assist you at all. Better try Herr Böhme again. I’m only a casual onlooker.”
“Ah! you remember that? (He remembers everything!) With a few shares, then; but with no expert knowledge. Now, Böhme is the consulting engineer. Rescue me, Böhme.”
“I cannot disclaim expert knowledge,” said Böhme, with humorous gravity; “but I disclaim responsibility. Now, Herr Dollmann is chairman of the company.”
“And I,” said Dollmann, with a noisy laugh, “must fall back on the shareholders, whose interests I have to guard. One can’t be too careful in these confidential matters.”
“Here’s one who gives his consent,” I said. “Can’t he represent the rest?”
“Extorted by torture,” said von Brüning. “I retract.”
“Don’t mind them, Herr Carruthers,” cried Frau Dollmann, “they are making fun of you; but I will give you a hint; no woman can keep a secret——”
“Ah!” I cried, triumphantly, “you have been there?”
“I? Not I; I detest the sea! But Clara has.” Everyone looked at Clara, who in her turn looked in naïve bewilderment from me to her father.
“Indeed?” I said, more soberly, “but perhaps she is not a free agent.”
“I have only been there once, some time ago,” said she, “and I saw no gold at all.”
“Guarded,” I observed. “I beg your pardon; I mean that perhaps you only saw what you were allowed to see. And, in any case, the Fräulein has no expert knowledge and no responsibility, and, perhaps, no shares. Her province is to be charming, not to hold financial secrets.”
“I have done my best to help you,” said the stepmother.
“Oh, chuck it, Carruthers!” said Davies, in English.
“He’s insatiable,” said von Brüning, and there was a pause; clearly, they meant to elicit more.