He had thought of that several times, but had not mentioned it because--well, he did not know why. But now his wife had started the subject; so of course it was all right. Still he hesitated. "Well, I don't know--" "Now I think it a capital idea. You can drive over there, and they'll most probably ask you to stop to dinner, and you'll have a fine moonlight drive back. And then the next day all the rest of the people will come down." After this Sir Charles did not attempt, however faintly, to interpose an objection, and was in a very good temper for the remainder of the evening. CHAPTER XII. DRAWING COVER. It was part of the crafty policy of the tall-hatted Mr. Griffiths to keep his employer Mr. Effingham in good humour, and to show that he was worth seeing occasionally; and it was with this end in view that Mr. Griffiths had spoken so confidently of Mr. Lyons's undoubted knowledge of the whereabouts of the forged bill and of his (Griffiths's) intention of seeking an immediate interview with Lyons. But, in sober truth, Mr. Griffiths merely had a faint notion that Lyons, from his previous connection with Tony Butler and his general acquaintance with the shady transactions of the deceased, might possibly give a guess as to the hands in which the bill then was, while he had not the remotest idea where to find the redoubtable Mr. Lyons himself, with a view to obtain from him the necessary information. For Mr. Lyons, as is the case with many gentlemen of his persuasion, did not confine his energies to the exercise of one calling, but dabbled in a great many. To some men he was known as a jeweller and diamond-merchant; to others as an importer of French clocks, whistling bullfinches, and German mustard; to some he was known in connection with the discounting of stamped paper; to others as a picture-dealer, a cigar-merchant, a vendor of _objets d'art_ of a very peculiar kind. He had no residence--that is to say, he had a great many, but none particularly tangible or satisfactory. He would write to you dating from a number in Clement's Inn; and when you called there, you would find the name of Mr. Glubb over the door, with a painted square of tin by the letter-slit announcing that Mr. Glubb had removed to Great Decorum Street, and that letters for him were to be left with the porter; and lower still you would find a dirty scrap of paper, with "M. Lyons" faintly traced upon it; and on the door being opened, you would find M. Lyons in a room with one chair, one table, a blotting-pad, pen and ink, and a cheque-book. He was in the habit of making appointments at coffee-houses and taverns; and when he sent the clocks or the bullfinches, the cigars or the _objets d'art_, to their purchasers, they arrived at night, being left at the door by mysterious boys, to whom they had been given, with the address and twopence, by a man whom they had never seen before, but who was just round the corner. There was, it was said, one permanent address which Mr.