“You see, Miss Fairhurst?” said Violet. “It must have been some sort of trap. Oh, who can this villain be? Why has he such a grudge against Harry?” She was on the verge of tears, and Sarah, again much to her brother’s surprise, made her way across the room to the girl’s side and patted her hand sympathetically.

“Never you mind, my dear,” she said. “Henry will do something for you, and for your young man, too. Won’t you, Henry?”

Henry, plunged deep in a daydream in which he outwitted Scotland Yard as well as the cleverest brains in the underworld, roused himself to reply.

“I’ll do my best,” he announced, and Violet Arnell brightened up immediately.

“First of all,” he added, “can you tell me if the original of this letter is anywhere to be had, Miss Arnell? I mean, of course, the note that was used to lure your fiancé to the neighbourhood of the British Museum last night. After all, if he’s to put up any sort of defence, it is essential that it should be found. Otherwise, his explanation of why he was there will sound very weak, very weak indeed.”

“I don’t know,” Miss Arnell replied. “You see, I haven’t seen Harry since…since his arrest.”

“Well, that’s the first thing to be seen to, anyway,” remarked Henry with an air of intense resolution. “And then there is the matter of his inheritance from Dr. Wilkinson. Did he expect that, or was it a bolt from the blue, so to speak? Do you happen to know anything at all about it, Miss Arnell? It would certainly be most helpful if you could tell me anything about it.”

“A complete bolt from the blue, I think,” she announced. “I know that Harry was both surprised and delighted at the legacy. He said that he hadn’t even known that Dr. Wilkinson was related to him, not to mention the expectation of a legacy from him.”

“That’s a useful point, anyhow,” replied Henry, and then paused, deep in thought once more.

“I don’t think,” he announced at length, “that there is much that I can do here. I think that I shall have to go to Scotland Yard and see if they can help me at all. After all, I’ve been of some use to them in this case. I’ve been able to provide them with some good information, and, if I tell them that I am acting on your behalf, I am sure that they will be pleased to tell me what is being done, and what are the grounds for their arrest of Mr. Baker.”