They reached London at last, and as had been arranged, Anne, the French bonne, met them at the station to take Effie home.  Geoffrey noticed that she looked smarter and less to his taste than ever.  However, she embraced Effie with an enthusiasm which the child scarcely responded to, and at the same time carried on an ocular flirtation with a ticket collector.  Although early in the year for yellow fogs, London was plunged in a dense gloom.  It had been misty that morning at Bryngelly, and become more and more so as the day advanced; but, though it was not yet four o’clock, London was dark as night.  Luckily, however, it is not far from Paddington to the flat near the Edgware Road, where Geoffrey lived, so having personally instructed the cabman, he left Anne to convoy Effie and the luggage, and went on to the Temple by Underground Railway with an easy mind.

Shortly after Geoffrey reached his chambers in Pump Court the solicitor arrived as had been arranged, not his uncle—­who was, he learned, very unwell—­but a partner.  To his delight he then found that Beatrice’s ghost theory was perfectly accurate; the boy with the missing toe-joint had been discovered who saw the whole horrible tragedy through a crack in the blind; moreover the truth had been wrung from him and he would be produced at the trial—­indeed a proof of his evidence was already forthcoming.  Also some specimens of the ex-lawyer’s clerk’s handwriting had been obtained, and were declared by two experts to be identical with the writing on the will.  One thing, however, disturbed him:  neither the Attorney-General nor Mr. Candleton was yet in town, so no conference was possible that evening.  However, both were expected that night—­the Attorney-General from Devonshire and Mr. Candleton from the Continent; so the case being first on the list, it was arranged that the conference should take place at ten o’clock on the following morning.

On arriving home Geoffrey was informed that Lady Honoria was dressing, and had left a message saying he must be quick and do likewise as a gentleman was coming to dinner.  Accordingly he went to his own room—­which was at the other end of the flat—­and put on his dress clothes.  Before going to the dining-room, however, he said good-night to Effie—­who was in bed, but not asleep—­and asked her what time she had reached home.

“At twenty minutes past five, daddy,” Effie said promptly.

“Twenty minutes past five!  Why, you don’t mean to say that you were an hour coming that little way!  Did you get blocked in the fog?”

“No, daddy, but——­”

“But what, dear?”

“Anne did tell me not to say!”

“But I tell you to say, dear—­never mind Anne!”

“Anne stopped and talked to the ticket-man for a long, long time.”

“Oh, did she?” he said.

At that moment the parlourmaid came to say that Lady Honoria and the “gentleman” were waiting for dinner.  Geoffrey asked her casually what time Miss Effie had reached home.