“It is curious that you should ask that,” said Yale, “but I had arranged to go down to Deal for some fishing. A friend of mine has lent me a motor-launch, and I thought of spending the night in the Channel; in fact, I had arranged to go on that day.” “You can make what arrangements you like, but you are not going alone,” said Parr emphatically. “And now you can all clear out. Thank your lucky stars that my aunt has not wakened, and that mother isn’t here!” The last he said was intended for Jack, and Jack smiled understandingly. Chapter XXIX. “The Red Circle” It was Harvey Froyant’s boast that he trusted nobody completely. He trusted the lawyer up to a point, but his known connection with questionable people would have been alone sufficient to prevent Harvey from trusting implicitly to his agent. Two nights after the shooting of Inspector Parr the little lawyer called on his employer, and he was all a-quiver with excitement. He had traced one of the new series of bank-notes which the Crimson Circle had taken from Brabazon. “Now, we’ve got a good line on this, Mr. Froyant, and if we continue in the direction we are going, we can certainly pick up the original changer.” But here Mr. Harvey Froyant was firm. He could not and would not place the case completely in the hands of this man. So far might the knowledgeable firm of Heggitt take him, but he would carry on the rest through another agency. He said so in as many words. “I’m sorry you won’t let me go on with it,” said the disappointed Heggitt. “I have undertaken this search personally, and I can assure you that there are only a few steps now between the man we discovered with the money and the man you are looking for.” Harvey Froyant knew that as well as the lawyer. Jack Beardmore had spoken a great truth when he said that this mean man would never be satisfied until he had recovered the money he had lost. It was a goad and an irritation, a source of thought which kept him awake at night and woke him in the morning with a sense of blank despair. And Harvey was well equipped to carry the investigations to their final stage now that he had the ground clear for him. He had derived his fortune from buying and selling land in every country in the world. Beginning with practically no capital, he had, by personal application to his business, built up a seven figure fortune. And this had not been accomplished by sitting in an office and trusting to subordinates. It had involved considerable travel, restless inquiry and relentless probing into the private circumstances of negotiators, a peculiarity he had shared with James Beardmore, though this he did not know. He took up his own case with alacrity, and informed neither Yale nor Parr of his intentions.