Page:Fletcher - The Mortover Grange Affair.pdf/239

 mayn't! But if he has I know who'll get the benefit of it if he's a chance to handle it!"

"Who, then?" asked the man next him.

"Me!" retorted Stainsby. "If he catches sight of me, with you, he'll be fit to play hell!"

"Ah!" said the detective. "That would be unpleasant! But we'll take care that he doesn't catch sight of you! Your job, and ours, is to catch sight of him!"

"There's one thing you're forgetting," remarked Stainsby, shrewdly. "Supposing he catches sight of me before I catch sight of him. What then?"

The two men laughed.

"All right," said one. "But as a matter of fact, he and his wife'll be followed from the time they leave the hotel, so that's all right. And we'll put you where he won't see you!"

"Seem to be taking no chances!" said Stainsby.

"Naturally!" assented the detective. "Your friend Wedgwood isn't, anyway."

"Why hasn't he come along?" asked Stainsby. "I thought he'd be keen to be in at it!"

"He'll be in at it all right, when what they call the psychological moment comes," answered the detective. "You trust him for that!"