The whole question was how much
they understood about Scudder's knowledge. I had talked confidently
last night about Germans always sticking to a scheme, but if they had
any suspicions that I was on their track they would be fools not to
cover it. I wondered if the man last night had seen that I recognized
him. Somehow I did not think he had, and to that I had clung. But the
whole business had never seemed so difficult as that afternoon when
by all calculations I should have been rejoicing in assured success.
In the hotel I met the commander of the destroyer, to whom
Scaife introduced me, and with whom I had a few words. Then I
thought I would put in an hour or two watching Trafalgar Lodge.
I found a place farther up the hill, in the garden of an empty
house. From there I had a full view of the court, on which two
figures were having a game of tennis. One was the old man, whom
I had already seen; the other was a younger fellow, wearing some
club colours in the scarf round his middle. They played with tremendous
zest, like two city gents who wanted hard exercise to open
their pores. You couldn't conceive a more innocent spectacle. They
shouted and laughed and stopped for drinks, when a maid brought
out two tankards on a salver. I rubbed my eyes and asked myself if
I was not the most immortal fool on earth. Mystery and darkness
had hung about the men who hunted me over the Scotch moor in
aeroplane and motor-car, and notably about that infernal antiquarian.
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