Mr. Coulson moved his cigar into a corner of his mouth, as though to obtain a clear view of his questioner's face. His expression was one of bland interest.
"Well, I guess you've got me puzzled, Sir Edward," he said. "You aren't thinking of doing anything in woollen machinery, are you?"Sir Edward smiled.
"I think not, Mr. Coulson," he answered. "At any rate, my question had nothing to do with your other very interesting avocation. What I wanted to ask you was whether you could tell me anything about a compatriot of yours--a Mr. Hamilton Fynes?""Hamilton Fynes!" Mr. Coulson repeated thoughtfully. "Why, that's the man who got murdered on the cars, going from Liverpool to London.""That is so," Sir Edward admitted.
Mr. Coulson shook his head.
"I told that reporter fellow all I knew about him," he said. "He was an unsociable sort of chap, you know, Sir Edward, and he wasn't in any line of business.""H'm! I thought he might have been," the Minister answered, glancing keenly for a moment at his visitor. "To tell you the truth, Mr. Coulson, we have been a great deal bothered about that unfortunate incident, and by the subsequent murder of the young man who was attached to your Embassy here. Scotland Yard has strained every nerve to bring the guilty people to justice, but so far unsuccessfully. It seems to me that your friends on the other side scarcely seem to give us credit for our exertions.
They do not help us in the least. They assure us that they had no knowledge of Mr. Fynes other than has appeared in the papers.
They recognize him only as an American citizen going about his legitimate business. A little more confidence on their part would, I think, render our task easier."Mr. Coulson scratched his chin for a moment thoughtfully.
"Well," he said, "I can understand their feeling a bit sore about it. I'm not exactly given to brag when I'm away from my own country--one hears too much of that all the time--but between you and me, I shouldn't say that it was possible for two crimes like that to be committed in New York City and for the murderer to get off scot free in either case.""The matter," Sir Edward declared, "has given us a great deal of anxiety, and I can assure you that the Home Secretary himself has taken a strong personal interest in it, but at the same time, as I have just pointed out to you, our investigations are rendered the more difficult from the fact that we cannot learn anything definite concerning this Mr. Hamilton Fynes or his visit to this country. Now, if we knew, for instance," Sir Edward continued, "that he was carrying documents, or even a letter, similar to the one you have just handed to me, we might at once discover a motive to the crime, and work backwards until we reached the perpetrator."Mr. Coulson knocked the ash from his cigar.
"I see what you are driving at," he said. "I am sorry I can be of no assistance to you, Sir Edward.""Neither in the case of Mr. Hamilton Fynes or in the case of Mr.
Richard Vanderpole?" Sir Edward asked.
Mr. Coulson shook his head.
"Quite out of my line," he declared.
"Notwithstanding the fact," Sir Edward reminded him quietly, "that you were probably the last person to see Vanderpole alive?
He came to the Savoy to call upon you before he got into the taxicab where he was murdered. That is so, isn't it?""Sure!" Mr. Coulson answered. "A nice young fellow he was, too.
Well set up, and real American manners,--Hail, fellow, well met!' with you right away."
"I suppose, Mr. Coulson," the Minister suggested smoothly, "it wouldn't answer your purpose to put aside that bluff about patents for the development of the woollen trade for a few moments, and tell me exactly what passed between you and Mr.
Vanderpole at the Savoy Hotel, and the object of his calling upon you? Whether, for instance, he took away with him documents or papers intended for the Embassy and which you yourself had brought from America?""You do think of things!" Mr. Coulson remarked admiringly.
"You're on the wrong track this time, though, sure. Still, supposing I were able to tell you that Mr. Vanderpole was carrying papers of importance to my country, and that Mr.
Hamilton Fynes was also in possession of the same class of document, how would it help you? In what fresh direction should you look then for the murderers of these two men?""Mr. Coulson," Sir Edward said, "we should consider the nature of those documents, and we should see to whose advantage it was that they were suppressed."Mr. Coulson's face seemed suddenly old and lined. He spoke with a new vigor, and his eyes were very keen and bright under his bushy eyebrows.
"And supposing it was your country's?" he asked. "Supposing they contained instructions to our Ambassador which you might consider inimical to your interests? Do you mean that you would look at home for the murderer? You mean that you have men so devoted to their native land that they were willing to run the risk of death by the hangman to aid her? You mean that your Secret Service is perfected to that extent, and that the scales of justice are held blindfolded? Or do you mean that Scotland Yard would have its orders, and that these men would go free?""I was not thinking of my own country," Sir Edward admitted. "Imust confess that my thoughts had turned elsewhere.""Let me tell you this, sir," Mr. Coulson continued. "I should imagine that the trouble with Washington, if there is any, is simply that they will not believe that your police have a free hand. They will not believe that you are honestly and genuinely anxious for the discovery of the perpetrator of these crimes. Ispeak without authority, you understand? I am no more in a position to discuss this affair than any other tourist from my country who might happen to come along."Sir Edward shrugged his shoulders.
"Can you suggest any method," he asked a little dryly, "by means of which we might remove this unfortunate impression?"Mr. Coulson flicked the ash once more from the end of his cigar and looked at it thoughtfully.
