‘It’s all right,’ he said, ’but he doesn’t care to take steps till after this season is over.  He says the same thing will happen again to a dead certainty, and that the more evidence he has the surer he’ll be of the decree.  I think he’s afraid Van Torp has some explanation up his sleeve that will swing things the other way.’

‘Didn’t he catch her here?’ asked the elder man, evidently annoyed.  ’Didn’t he find the money on this table in an envelope addressed to her?  Didn’t he have two witnesses with him?  Or is all that an invention?’

‘It happened just so.  But he’s afraid there’s some explanation—­’

‘Feist,’ said Isidore Bamberger slowly, ’find out what explanation the man’s afraid of, pretty quick, or I’ll get somebody who will.  It’s my belief that he’s just a common coward, who takes money from his wife and doesn’t care how she gets it.  I suppose she refused to pay one day, so he strengthened his position by catching her; but he doesn’t want to divorce the goose that lays the golden egg as long as he’s short of cash.  That’s about the measure of it, you may depend.’

‘She may be a goose,’ answered Feist, ’but she’s a wild one, and she’ll lead us a chase too.  She’s up to all sorts of games, I’ve ascertained.  She goes out of the house at all hours and comes home when she’s ready, and it isn’t to meet your friend either, for he’s not been in London again since he landed.’

‘Then who else is it?’ asked Bamberger.

Feist smiled in a sickly way.

‘Don’t know,’ he said.  ‘Can’t find out.’

‘I don’t like people who don’t know and can’t find out,’ answered the other.  ’I’m in a hurry, I tell you.  I’m employing you, and paying you a good salary, and taking a great deal of trouble to have you pushed with letters of introduction where you can see her, and now you come here and tell me you don’t know and you can’t find out.  It won’t do, Feist.  You’re no better than you used to be when you were my secretary last year.  You’re a pretty bright young fellow when you don’t drink, but when you do you’re about as useful as a painted clock—­and even a painted clock is right twice in twenty-four hours.  It’s more than you are.  The only good thing about you is that you can hold your tongue, drunk or sober.  I admit that.’

Having relieved himself of this plain opinion Isidore Bamberger waited to hear what Feist had to say, keeping his eyes fixed on the unhealthy face.

‘I’ve not been drinking lately, anyhow,’ he answered, ’and I’ll tell you one thing, Mr. Bamberger, and that is, that I’m just as anxious as you can be to see this thing through, every bit.’

’Well, then, don’t waste time!  I don’t care a cent about the divorce, except that it will bring the whole affair into publicity.  At soon as all the papers are down on him, I’ll start in on the real thing.  I shall be ready by that time.  I want public opinion on both sides of the ocean to run strong against him, as it ought to, and it’s just that it should.  If I don’t manage that, he may get off in the end in spite of your evidence.’