“This is a strange affair indeed, Mr. Fairfax,” said the manager, “and it is evident that I have been of some assistance to you.  I need not say that I am very glad, the more so because it is evident that our Company is not involved in any system of fraud.  I will not disguise from you that I had my fears that it was the beginning of trouble for us all.”

“You may disabuse your mind of that once and for all,” I answered.  “If there is any trouble brewing it is for our friend, Mr. Hayle.  That gentleman’s reckoning is indeed likely to be a heavy one.  I would not stand in his shoes for something.”

There was a brief and somewhat uncomfortable pause.

“And now allow me to wish you a very good-afternoon,” the old gentleman observed.

“Good-afternoon,” I replied, “and many thanks for the service you have rendered me.  It has helped me more than I can say.”

“Pray don’t mention it, my dear sir, don’t mention it,” replied the kindly old gentleman, as he moved towards the door.  “I am very glad to have been useful to you.”

When he had gone I sat down at my desk to think.  I had had a good many surprises in my life, but I don’t know that I had ever been more astonished than I was that afternoon.  If only I had been aware of Hayle’s identity when he had called upon me two mornings before, how simply everything might have been arranged!  As a matter of fact I had been talking with the very man I had been paid to find, and, what was worse, had even terminated the interview myself.  When I realized everything, I could have kicked myself for my stupidity.  Why should I have suspected him, however?  The very boldness of his scheme carried conviction with it!  Certainly, Mr. Gideon Hayle was a foeman worthy of my steel, and I began to realize that, with such a man to deal with, the enterprise I had taken in hand was likely to prove a bigger affair than I had bargained for.

“Having failed in both his attempts to get me out of the way, his next move will be to leave England with as little delay as possible,” I said to myself.  “If only I knew in what part of London he was staying, I’d ransack it for him, if I had to visit every house in order to do so.  As it is, he has a thousand different ways of escape, and unless luck favours me, I shall be unable to prevent him from taking his departure.”

At that moment there was a tap at the door and my clerk entered the room.

“Mr. Kitwater and Mr. Codd to see you, sir.”

“Show them in,” I said, and a moment later the blind man and his companion were ushered into my presence.

Codd must have divined from the expression upon my face that I was not pleased to see them.

“You must forgive me for troubling you again so soon,” said Kitwater, as he dropped into the chair I had placed for him, “but you can understand that we are really anxious about the affair.  Your letter tells us that you discovered that Hayle was in London a short time since, and that he had realized upon some of the stones.  Is it not possible for you to discover some trace of his whereabouts?”