When she had gone Slivers locked up his office, and
sallied forth to find the missing Villiers, but though
he went all over town to that gentleman’s favourite
haunts, mostly bars, yet he could see nothing of him;
and on making inquiries heard that he had not been
seen in Ballarat all day. This was so contrary
to Villiers’ general habits that Slivers became
suspicious, and as he walked home thinking over the
subject he came to the conclusion there was something
up.
‘If,’ said Slivers, pausing on the pavement
and addressing a street lamp, ’he doesn’t
turn up to-morrow I’ll have a look for him again.
If that don’t do I’ll tell the police,
and I shouldn’t wonder,’ went on Slivers,
musingly, ’I shouldn’t wonder if they called
on Madame Midas.’
SLIVERS IN SEARCH OF EVIDENCE
Slivers was puzzled over Villiers’ disappearance,
so he determined to go in search of evidence against
Madame Midas, though for what reason he wanted evidence
against her no one but himself—and perhaps
Billy—knew. But then Slivers always
was an enigma regarding his reasons for doing things,
and even the Sphinx would have found him a difficult
riddle to solve.
The reasons he had for turning detective were simply
these: It soon became known that Madame Midas
had been robbed by her husband of the famous nugget,
and great was the indignation of everyone against Mr
Villiers. That gentleman would have fared very
badly if he had made his appearance, but for some
reason or another he did not venture forth. In
fact, he had completely disappeared, and where he was
no one knew. The last person who saw him was
Barty Jarper, who left him at the corner of Lydiard
and Sturt Streets, when Mr Villiers had announced
his intention of going home. Mrs Cheedle, however,
asserted positively that she had never set eyes on
him since the time she stated to Slivers, and as it
was now nearly two weeks since he had disappeared
things were beginning to look serious. The generally
received explanation was that he had bolted with the
nugget, but as he could hardly dispose of such a large
mass of gold without suspicion, and as the police
both in Ballarat and Melbourne had made inquiries,
which proved futile, this theory began to lose ground.
It was at this period that Slivers asserted himself—coming
forward, he hinted in an ambiguous sort of way that
Villiers had met with foul play, and that some people
had their reasons for wishing to get rid of him.
This was clearly an insinuation against Madame Midas,
but everyone refused to believe such an impossible
story, so Slivers determined to make good his words,
and went in search of evidence.
The Wopples Family having left Ballarat, Slivers was
unable to see Mr Theodore Wopples, who had been in
Villiers’ company on the night of his disappearance.
Mr Barty Jarper, however, had not yet departed, so
Slivers waylaid him, and asked him in a casual way
to drop into his office and have a drink, with a view
of finding out from him all the events of that night.
