But the victory was not quite won yet. Newcombe wanted further time for reflection. “It’s a very serious step you are asking me to take. I’ve got to look at it all round. Don’t think I have any consideration for that dirty dog, Stormont; you wouldn’t expect it, would you? If we were out in some parts I could name, I’d plug him without the slightest compunction; he’d deserve it. But I’ve got to think of myself, to be sure I’m not making a false step.” From that position he would not budge. He must have a clear day to think it over. If Grewgus would call at the same time to-morrow, he would give him his decision. Grewgus saw his client later in the day, and got an open cheque from him for the seven hundred pounds which he would cash on the following morning. It was no use going to the Colonial without the money in his pocket. His knowledge of human nature told him that Mr. Newcombe, if he had made up his mind to betray his old pal, would stipulate that the money should be handed over before he opened his mouth. “My own impression is that he will bite,” remarked the detective. “It is perfectly obvious that he knows something damaging, or he would not have gone so far in the preliminary negotiations. We are buying a pig in a poke, and what he has to tell may not be worth so much money. Still, if Stormont suffers himself to be blackmailed to the extent of three or four pounds a week, it must be something rather bad, if not so bad as we think.” Lydon agreed. Anyway, if Newcombe took the seven hundred pounds, the suspense would be ended, they would know something definite. “The thing I want to assure him positively of is that nothing he tells me will be used against himself or Stormont. I gave him this assurance off my own bat, as it were,” said the detective as he took his leave. “I take it that, whatever we find out, you personally have no intention of setting the police upon Stormont. In other words, this is strictly a private inquiry, with which the official police will have nothing to do?” Lydon assured him that this was so. He could not yet quite bring himself to disclose his relations to Gloria. He simply said that the man belonged to a highly-respectable family which he was determined to spare so far as it lay in his power. The French police were still probing the mystery of the death of Calliard, the jeweller. If they were successful, it was more than probable that Stormont might be implicated. That contingency could not be averted. “Of course, I shall mention nothing of that affair to Newcombe,” was the detective’s reply. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Grewgus did not pay his visit the next day as arranged. In the morning he received a wire from Newcombe, asking him for a respite of another twenty-four hours. It was evident the Colonial wanted to think the matter well over, in other words to consider which course would be the most beneficial to his own interests.