‘And there’s one other thing. You remember that paper of instructions I showed you? We must get hold of that. I was forced to give it to your cousin this morning, that he might prepare the will from it. He may leave it in his desk at the office: if so, I’ll get possession of it. Or he may have sent it to your uncle with the draft. Your uncle may destroy it, or he may keep it, or he may send it back to the office with the draft. In the first case it will be all right. If he sends it back to the office I shall be able to lay my hands on it. But if he lays it by, _you_ must get it and bring it to me. It must not be found among his papers after his death.’ ‘I quite see the importance of that. What I don’t see is, how I can take Dr. Mackenzie out for the evening, and yet be in my uncle’s room when the post comes in, to see what he does with the paper.’ ‘It is a difficulty; but you must try to find a way out of it. Come now, Semple, you have plenty of brains. Is there no one in the house that will help you?’ ‘No one--unless--I might try it,’ he added, as if speaking to himself. ‘Is it of any use to try to get Alec Lindsay on our side? If he would consent simply to hold his tongue, it would be the easiest thing possible.’ Semple shook his head emphatically. ‘You won’t get any help _there_,’ he said. ‘I thought as much. Well, I shall go back to the office after dinner, and hunt about for that paper of instructions. You will be on the look-out for the evening delivery, and ascertain what your uncle does with it, if it reaches him. Keep the minister out of the way; and come to my lodgings to-morrow evening.’ ‘At what hour?’ ‘Any hour you like. But if I am not in, wait for me, even if you should have to wait all night. I must see you to-morrow night.’ Semple promised that he would keep the appointment, and, calling a cab, went straight home. During the drive he racked his brains to discover some method of inducing Dr. Mackenzie to spend the evening elsewhere, without being able to think of any practicable plan. Fortune, however, favoured him. In the library he found an evening paper containing a notice of a meeting in Exeter Hall which he thought might prove an attraction to the Presbyterian minister. ‘Did you see that the deputation of the American Missionary Society is to be present at the meeting in Exeter Hall?’ he asked Dr. Mackenzie. ‘No; when is the meeting to be?’ ‘To-night.’ ‘Are you going to be there?’ ‘I--I--don’t know. I was thinking of it. Would you like to go?’ said Semple. ‘If you go, I should be happy to accompany you. I am a stranger in London, and I don’t care to go out alone at night.’ This struck Semple as odd. The minister did not look like a man who would be afraid to go out alone at night. However, he saw that the only way to get Dr. Mackenzie out of the way was to accompany him to Exeter Hall; and accordingly he arranged to do so.