“I shall be glad to take the reward, my lord, if I am fortunate enough to earn it,” he said, rising to his feet.  “Until then I do not require payment for my services.”

Dredlinton replaced the note in his pocket.

“Just as you like, of course, Inspector.  I only meant it as a little incentive.  And I want you to remember this—­do rub it into your Chief—­I have already called to see him twice, and it doesn’t seem to me that the authorities are looking upon our position seriously enough.  We have a right to the utmost protection the law can give us, and further, I must insist upon it that every effort is made to discover Mr. Rees before it is too late.”

The butler stood on the threshold.  He had entered in response to Lord Dredlinton’s ring, with the perfect silence and promptitude of the best of his class.  His master stared at him for a moment uneasily.  The man’s appearance, grave and respectable though he was, seemed to have startled him.

“Show the inspector out,” he directed.  “Good night, Mr. Shields.”

The man bowed to Josephine.

“Good night, my lord!”

Dredlinton stared at the closed door.  Then he turned around with a little gesture of anger.

“Every damned thing that happens, nowadays, seems designed to irritate me!” he exclaimed.  “That man Shields is nothing but a poopstick!”

“I differ from you entirely,” Josephine declared.  “I thought that he seemed a very intelligent person, with unusual powers of self-restraint.”

“Shows what your judgment is worth!  I can’t think what Scotland Yard are about, to put the greatest lout they have in the service on to an important business like this.  And what the mischief are we always changing servants for?  There were two new men at dinner, and that butler of yours gives me the creeps.  What on earth has become of Jacob?”

“You told Jacob yourself to go to hell, a few days ago,” Josephine reminded him.  “You can scarcely expect any self-respecting butler to stand your continual abuse.”

“Or a self-respecting wife, eh?” he sneered.

Josephine regarded him coldly.

“One’s servants,” she remarked, “have an advantage.  Jacob has found a better place.”

“Precisely what you’d like to do yourself, eh?”

“Precisely what I intend to do before long.”

“Well, then, why don’t you do it?” he demanded brutally.  “You think that everything I said the other day was bluff, eh, and that Stanley Rees’ disappearance has driven everything else out of my head?  Well, you’re wrong, madam.  As soon as this infernal business is done with, I am going to pay a visit to my lawyers.”

“For once,” she said, with a faint smile, “you will take my good wishes with you.”

“You mean,” he exclaimed, moving from his place and standing before her with his hands in his pockets, “that you want to get rid of me, eh?”

She met his scowling gaze fearlessly.