“That is Hayle all over,” said Kitwater when I had finished.  “It is not his fault that you are not a dead man now.  He will evade us if he possibly can.  The story of the roughs you have just told us shows that he is aware that you are on the trail, and, if I know him at all, he will try the old dodge, and put running water between you and himself as soon as possible.  As I said to you the other day, he knows the world as well as you know London, and, in spite of what people say, there are still plenty of places left in it where he can hide and we shall never find him.  With the money he stole from us he can make himself as comfortable as he pleases wherever he may happen to be.  To sum it all up, if he gets a week’s start of us, we shall never set eyes on him again.”

“If that is so we must endeavour to make sure that he does not get that start,” I replied.  “I will have the principal ports watched, and in the meantime will endeavour to find out where he has stowed himself away in London.  You may rest assured of one thing, gentlemen, I took this matter up in the first place as an ordinary business speculation.  I am now going on for that reason and another.  Mr. Hayle tried a trick on me that I have never had attempted before, and for the future he is my enemy as well as yours.  I hope I have set myself right with you now.  You do not still believe that I am acting in collusion with him?”

“I do not,” Kitwater answered vehemently.  “And I most humbly apologize for having said what I did.  It would have served me right if you had thrown the case up there and then, and I regard it as a proof of your good feeling towards us that you consent to continue your work upon it.  To-day is Friday, is it not?  Then perhaps by Sunday you may have something more definite to tell us.”

“It is just possible, I may,” I returned.

“In that case I am instructed by my niece to ask if you will give us the pleasure of your company at Bishopstowe on that day.  After the toils of London, a day in the country will do you no harm, and needless to say we shall be most pleased to see you.”

I remembered the girl’s pretty face and the trim neat figure.  I am not a lady’s man, far from it, nevertheless I thought that I should like to renew my acquaintance with her.

“I shall be very pleased to accept Miss Kitwater’s invitation, provided I have something of importance to communicate,” I said.  “Should I not be able to come, you will of course understand that my presence is required in London or elsewhere.  My movements must of necessity be regulated by those of Mr. Hayle, and while I am attending to him I am not my own master.”

Kitwater asked me one or two more questions about the disposal of the gems to the merchants in Hatton Garden, groaned as I describe the enthusiasm of the dealers, swore under his breath when he heard of Hayle’s cunning in refusing to allow either his name or address to be known, and then rose and bade me good-bye.