“I’d been hanging round the house all the morning. I wanted to have a talk with the young lady.”

“What about?” demanded the other.

“About a certain thing.”

“Now see here, Thomas: you’re not to speak to Miss Gine – do you understand? You’re not to approach her, and you’re not to go anywhere near the house.”

“Well, it’s not a bad thing that I was there this morning,” grinned Thomas. “Because I heard something that will make you jump!”

It took half an hour for him to repeat, with more or less accuracy, the conversation he had heard on the lawn. When he came to the vital point, Mr Gilder whistled.

Arthur Gine had managed the Chelford estate without his assistance, and Gilder was as ignorant of the particulars of the property as if it were in some other office.

“Fifty thousand, eh?” he mused. “Well, that’s more than Arthur Gine will collect in a hurry.”

“That’s what he said himself,” said Thomas. “He said to Alford: ‘Friends? Well, I haven’t got fifty thousand pounds’ worth’ – those were his very words. He said, ‘I’ll go to Dartmoor, and that doesn’t worry me. What worries me is Leslie.’”

“Did you hear when the transfer was to be complete – I mean, when the stocks were to be handed over to the other lawyers?”

“In a week,” said Thomas. “Mr Alford said, ‘I can hold it up for a week, but I can’t keep it any longer. And once those papers are in the other bloke’s hands, your name is mud.’”

Fifty thousand pounds! Gilder paced up and down the narrow room, his hands behind him.

“You say that the engagement with his lordship is broken off?”

“He didn’t say so,” said the man, “but that’s how I took it. He said, ‘Was Harry very annoyed?’ That’s his lordship. And Alford said, ‘Yes, and he’s going to change his lawyers.’ And he said, ‘What about Leslie’s fortune?’”

“Call her Miss Gine, will you?” interrupted Gilder roughly.

“He didn’t say Miss Gine, he said ‘Leslie.’ But to oblige you I’ll say Miss Gine,” said Thomas. “He said, ‘What about Miss Gine’s fortune? Is that gone?’ And Gine said, ‘Yes, every penny.’”

This was no news to Gilder – Arthur had told him as much.

“And here, Mr Gilder – the Black Abbot was around last night. I’ve got an idea about him! His lordship’s scared to death of the Black Abbot. Did you know that?”

“Don’t talk to me about the Black Abbot!” snapped the man. He wanted to work this thing out, and the chatter of his guest disturbed him. “You keep inside and out of sight. I think you’d better go to London tonight. You’ve got money?”