“You attach no importance to him?”

“Practically none.”  Hartley leaned back in his chair and lighted a cheroot.

Coryndon touched the piece of silk rag with his hand.

“This rag business is out of place, taken in connection with Heath.”

“I don’t accuse Heath, Coryndon, but I believe that he knows where the boy went.  The last thing that was told me by Mhtoon Pah was that the gold lacquer bowl that was ordered by Mrs. Wilder was found on the steps of the shop.  Though what that means, the devil only knows.  Mhtoon Pah considers it likely that the Chinaman, Leh Shin, put it there, but I have absolutely nothing to connect Leh Shin with the disappearance, and I have withdrawn the men who were watching the shop.”

“Interesting,” said Coryndon slowly.

“Can you give me any opinion?  I’m badly in need of help.”

Coryndon shook his head, his hand still touching the stained rag idly.

“I could give you none at all, on these facts.”

Hartley looked at him with a fixed and imploring stare.

“In a place like this, to be the chief mover, the actual incentive to disclosing God knows what, is simply horrible,” he said in a rough, pained voice.  “I’ve done my share of work, Coryndon, and I’ve taken my own risks, but any cases I’ve had against white men haven’t been against men like the Padre.”

Coryndon gave a little short sigh that had weariness in its sound, weariness or impatience.

“What you have told me involves three principals, and a score of others.”  He was counting as he spoke.  “Any one of them may be the man you are looking for, only circumstances indicate one in particular.  You are satisfied that you have got the line.  I could not confidently say that you have, unless I had been working the case myself, and had followed up every clue throughout.”

Hartley got up and paced the room, his hands deep in the pockets of his dinner jacket.

“I am convinced that Heath will have to be forced to speak, and, I may as well be honest with you—­I don’t like forcing him.”

Coryndon was not watching his host, he was leaning back in his chair, his eyes on a little spiral of smoke that circled up from his cigarette.

“I wish that damned little Absalom had never been heard of, and that it was anybody’s business but mine to find him, if he is to be found.”

If Coryndon’s finely-cut lips trembled into an instantaneous smile, it passed almost at once, and he looked quietly round at Hartley, who still paced, looking like an overgrown schoolboy in a bad mood.

“I wish I could help you, Hartley, but I have not enough to go on.  As you say, the case is unusual, and it makes it impossible for me to advise.”  He got up and stretched himself.  “There is one thing I will do, if you wish it, and, from what you said, you may wish it; I will take over the whole thing—­for my holiday, and the Wagner Cycle will have to wait.”