Grewgus thanked him and hastily explained that he would not be in London on the morrow, nor for some little time after. Then, having seen his companion put his key in the door, and enter the unprepossessing premises, he went on his way. With his usual methodical habit, he posted in his note-book Mr. Newcombe’s address, in case he should require it in the future. Early the next morning he rang up Lydon while the young man was at breakfast. “A thousand apologies for running away from you yesterday. But after that little scene with Stormont, I thought I ought not to let the chance slip. Got nothing out of it though, will tell you all when I see you. I want very much to know what you have to report to me. Shall I come to you, or vice versa?” “I’d rather come to you,” was Lydon’s answer. “We shall be less liable to interruption in your place.” The young man went round to him after lunch. Grewgus related how he had nearly brought the Colonial to the blabbing point, and how the man had suddenly shrunk back into his shell. On his side Lydon gave a full account of the reception in Curzon Street, omitting no detail. “There is no doubt what the game is,” said the detective when his companion had finished. “They have evidently got this young chap into their clutches, and they mean to bleed him to the utmost.” “Do you think these elaborate preparations, the taking of the house in Curzon Street, this purchase of expensive furniture, etcetera, are a part of the plot?” “Undoubtedly. I have heard a good deal of this young Wraysbury from one source and another. I should say he’s rather a silly sort of chap, intoxicated with his good fortune, and an easy pigeon to be plucked. I am told he has a lot of hangers-on who are thriving on his bounty, regular parasites and leeches. On the quiet, he goes in for the theatrical business, has put money in one or two shows, and I need hardly say lost what he put in.” “Edwards, who seems immensely proud of the acquaintance, spoke in very warm terms of him, says he is a delightful fellow in himself, very generous, but by no means a fool.” Grewgus laughed derisively. “Of course, that is just what a man of that stamp would say of somebody he had designs on, make him out cleverer than himself. No, I think my version is the true one. I don’t say that the young man is vicious or anything of that sort, but he is pleasure-loving, gambles pretty heavily, and of course goes racing.” “He is evidently very thick with the woman. He was sitting in her pocket all the afternoon.”