But for all that he looked curiously at the elder man, and it struck him as very odd that Miss Benham should have gone straight to her uncle and told him all this.  It did not seem in the least like her, especially as he knew the two were on no terms of intimacy.  He decided that she must have gone up to her grandfather’s room to discuss it with that old gentleman—­a reasonable enough hypothesis—­and that Captain Stewart must have come in during the discussion.  Quite evidently he had wasted no time in setting out upon his errand of congratulation.

“Then,” said Captain Stewart, “if I am to be good-naturedly forgiven for my stupidity, let me go on and say, in my capacity as a member of the family, that the news pleased me very much.  I was glad to hear it.”

He shook Ste. Marie’s hand, looking very benignant indeed, and Ste. Marie was quite overcome with pleasure and gratitude; it seemed to him such a very kindly act in the elder man.  He produced things to smoke and drink, and Captain Stewart accepted a cigarette and mixed himself a rather stiff glass of absinthe—­it was between five and six o’clock.

“And now,” said he, when he was at ease in the most comfortable of the low cane chairs, and the glass of opalescent liquor was properly curdled and set at hand—­“now, having congratulated you and—­ah, welcomed you, if I may put it so, as a probable future member of the family—­I turn to the other feature of the affair.”

He had an odd trick of lowering his head and gazing benevolently upon an auditor as if over the top of spectacles.  It was one of his elderly ways.  He beamed now upon Ste. Marie in this manner, and, after a moment, turned and beamed upon Richard Hartley, who gazed stolidly back at him without expression.

“You have determined, I hear,” said he, “to join us in our search for poor Arthur.  Good!  Good!  I welcome you there, also.”

Ste. Marie stirred uneasily in his chair.

“Well,” said he, “in a sense, yes.  That is, I’ve determined to devote myself to the search, and Hartley is good enough to offer to go in with me; but I think, if you don’t mind—­of course, I know it’s very presumptuous and doubtless idiotic of us—­but, if you don’t mind, I think we’ll work independently.  You see—­well, I can’t quite put it into words, but it’s our idea to succeed or fail quite by our own efforts.  I dare say we shall fail, but it won’t be for lack of trying.”

Captain Stewart looked disappointed.

“Oh, I think—­” said he.  “Pardon me for saying it, but I think you’re rather foolish to do that.”  He waved an apologetic hand.  “Of course, I comprehend your excellent motive.  Yes, as you say, you want to succeed quite on your own.  But look at the practical side!  You’ll have to go over all the weary weeks of useless labor we have gone over.  We could save you that.  We have examined and followed up, and at last given over, a hundred clews that on the surface looked quite possible of success.  You’ll be doing that all over again.  In short, my dear friend, you will merely be following along a couple of months behind us.  It seems to me a pity.  I sha’n’t like to see you wasting your time and efforts.”