"Just one question," he said, "before I send you off to bed. No, you must not protest. I want you to meet me here this evening at seven, with your brain clear and your nerves restored by a good, sound sleep. We will dine, here or elsewhere, and act subsequently. But at this moment I want to know the name of the person most readily accessible who can tell me all about Mr. Talbot's connection with the Sultan's agent." "His sister, undoubtedly." "Where can I find her?" "At Ulster Gardens. I will drive you there." The barrister smiled. "You are going to bed, I tell you. Give me a few lines of introduction to Miss Talbot." The earl's face had brightened at the prospect of meeting his _fiancée_ under the favourable conditions of Brett's presence. But he yielded with good grace, and promptly sat down to write a brief note explanatory of the barrister's identity and position in the inquiry. The two parted at the door, and a hansom rapidly brought Brett to the residence of Sir Hubert Fitzjames. A stately footman took Reggie's card and its accompanying letter, placed them on a salver with a graceful turn of his wrist, which oddly suggested a similar turn in his nose, and said: "Miss Talbot is not at home, sir." "Yes, she is," answered Brett, paying the driver of the hansom. The footman deigned to exhibit astonishment. Here was a gentleman--one obviously accustomed to the manners of Society--who declined to accept the courteous disclaimer of an unexpected visit. "Miss Talbot is not receiving visitors," he explained. "Exactly. Take that card and the letter to Miss Talbot and bring me the answer." Jeames was no match for his antagonist. He silently showed the way into a reception room and disappeared. A minute later he announced, with much deference, that Miss Talbot would see Mr. Brett in the library, and he conducted this mysterious visitor upstairs. On rejoining Buttons in the hall he solemnly observed: "That's a swell cop who is with the missus--shining topper, button-hole, buckskin gloves, patent leathers, all complete. Footmen ain't in it with the force, nowadays." Jeames expanded his magnificent waistcoat with a heavy sigh over this philosophical dictum, the poignancy of which was enhanced by his knowledge that the upper housemaid had taken to conversing with a mounted policeman in the Park during her afternoons off. The apartment in which Brett found himself gave ready indications of the character of its tenants. Tod's "Rajasthan" jostled a volume of the Badminton Library on the bookshelves, a copy of the Allahabad _Pioneer_ lay beside the _Field_ and the _Times_ on the table, and many varieties of horns made trophies with quaint weapons on the walls. A complete edition of Ruskin, and some exquisite prints of Rossetti's best known works, supplied a different set of emblems, whilst the room generally showed signs of daily occupation.