and examined it.
It was sheathed with iron. He tapped the walls with his stick, but found
nothing to encourage him. The floor was solidly flagged, the low roof of
the passage was vaulted and cased with stone.

He stopped in his search suddenly and listened. Above his head he heard
a light patter of feet, and smiled. It was his boast that he never
forgot a voice or a footfall.

"That's my little friend on her way back, running like the deuce, to
tell the doctor," he said. "I have something under an hour before the
shooting starts!"

CHAPTER XXIII

AT THE DOCTOR'S FLAT

Dr. van Heerden did not hurry his departure from his Staines house. He
spent the morning following Oliva's marriage in town, transacting
certain important business and making no attempt to conceal his comings
and goings, though he knew that he was shadowed. Yet he was well aware
that every hour that passed brought danger nearer. He judged (and
rightly) that his peril was not to be found in the consequences to his
detention of Oliva Cress well.

"I may have a week's grace," he said to Milsom, "and in the space of a
week I can do all that I want."

He spent the evening superintending the dismantling of apparatus in the
shed, and it was past ten o'clock on Tuesday before he finished.

It was not until he was seated by Milsom's side in the big limousine and
the car was running smoothly through Kingston that he made any further
reference to the previous afternoon.

"Is Beale content?" he asked.

"Eh?"

Milsom, dozing in the corner of the car, awoke with a start.

"Is Beale content with his prize--and his predicament?" asked van
Heerden.

"Well, I guess he should be. That little job brings him a million. He
shouldn't worry about anything further."

But van Heerden shook his head.

"I don't think you have things quite right, Milsom," he said. "Beale is
a better man than I thought, and knows my mind a little too well. He was
astounded when Homo claimed to be a priest--I never saw a man more
stunned in my life. He intended the marriage as a bluff to keep me away
from the girl. He analysed the situation exactly, for he knew I was
after her money, and that she as a woman had no attraction for me. He
believed--and there he was justified--that if I could not marry her I
had no interest in detaining her, and engaged Homo to follow him around
with a special licence. He timed everything too well for my comfort."

Milsom shifted round and pee