aid Hewitt admiringly, "that's the sort of messenger I often
want. I'll give him half a crown for himself and the money to pay for a
telegram on his way. He knows nothing essential, of course?"

"No--only that his master is in some sort of trouble, and warned him
that he might be followed."

"That is good. I shall telegraph to Detective-Inspector Plummer, of
Scotland Yard. All right--I quite understand that all I have heard is
confidential. I shall tell Plummer nothing till I may--indeed, as yet
I have very little to tell that would help him. But I think it will be
well to have the police within call--we may want them at a moment's
notice; I have no police powers, you see, and Plummer has the Denson
case in hand. I will ask him to be here, at this house, before a quarter
to eight, if you will allow me."

And so the telegram went to Plummer, and Hewitt, accepting the rector's
invitation to an early dinner before starting on their visit, resigned
himself to wait. He did not like the waste of time, as he frankly told
Mr. Potswood. He would have preferred to see Mason at once, at any
risk, and to take what means he thought necessary without delay. But as
it seemed that the risk was to be chiefly Mason's, and as Mason knew all
of which both he and the rector were ignorant, Mason must be allowed to
choose his own time.

The excellent Mr. Potswood endured agonies of suspense, though he also
insisted that Mason's wishes must be observed exactly. "What is it
all--what can it be?" he ejaculated again and again. "What dreadful
influence can thus compass a man about, here in London, in these times?"

* * * * *

It was autumn, and night fell early. Dinner was over at last, and they
had scarcely left the table when Plummer arrived, anxious and eager.

"You'll have to trust me a little, Plummer," Hewitt said, when he had
made him known to the rector. "I can tell you nothing now--know nothing,
in fact, or very little more than nothing. The fact is, I'm going to see
a man who promises information to me alone, in confidence, as his
client, and I don't know how long I may have to keep you in the dark.
But this is where the trail lies hot, and I know that's where you want
to be. More, if you're wanted suddenly you'll be at hand. You have a man
or two with you, I suppose, as I suggested?"

"Three of the best of them. They will follow us up. Is it far?"

"No, close enough. It is a house in a walled gar