"He whispered it to me as I was leaving the house later. Drevenoff reached the police station less than ten minutes after I called them up--just about the length of time it would take him to get there if it were he who had been in the rear room."
"The man's actions seemed suspicious, even before I received this apparent verification; also I had not forgotten the intelligence we had gathered concerning his father. So when I came upon the blood clot I naturally had him in mind; the symptoms of malaria and the quinine came back to me, and I at once determined upon this test on the chance that it would turn out as it has."
"I think you have sufficient evidence to have him taken at once." But Ashton-Kirk shook his head.
"It would be enough to hold him on, at any rate," protested Fuller. "And if he's not arrested now, he may escape, and Dr. Morse's murder will go unavenged."
The secret agent took up his big German pipe.
"The murder of Dr. Morse," said he, "is a most frightful crime against society. I am perfectly willing to do what I can to trace the criminal, but don't forget that the important matter with us is another thing entirely."
"You mean the document, or whatever it was, which was stolen by Drevenoff's father?"
"Which _may_ have been stolen by Drevenoff's father. Exactly. The murder of Dr. Morse is only incidental to this." Here the pipe was lighted and heavy clouds of smoke began to rise. "And even though young Drevenoff _should_ prove to be the murderer, I don't think we need fear his attempting to escape."
"No. For some little time, at any rate, it will be perfectly safe to give him a free foot; indeed, it may prove to be of great advantage to us to do so. He has not yet found the thing of which he is in search. That is plain. If he had, he would have been off before now. So, for a time at least, it will be highly interesting to watch his movements; for who knows but what it is through him that we are to save the government much embarrassment."
Fuller regarded his employer, the huge pipe and the smoke clouds which rose lazily above both; there was much speculation in his eye.
"You have not lost sight of the Japanese?" said he.
"The Japanese!" Ashton-Kirk took the amber bit from his mouth and his white teeth gleamed as he laughed. "Oh, no! I have not forgotten them. Mr. Okiu and his friend Mr. Humadi interest me exceedingly.