He pondered the point for a moment. When he spoke again, it was to touch on a still more profound problem. 'If you wanted a halfpenny to make up twopence to buy a lizard, what would you do, sir?' He got it. Ogden Ford, the El Dorado of the kidnapping industry, entered Sanstead House at a quarter past nine that evening. He was preceded by a Worried Look, Mr Arnold Abney, a cabman bearing a large box, and the odd-job man carrying two suitcases. I have given precedence to the Worried Look because it was a thing by itself. To say that Mr Abney wore it would be to create a wrong impression. Mr Abney simply followed in its wake. He was concealed behind it much as Macbeth's army was concealed behind the woods of Dunsinane. I only caught a glimpse of Ogden as Mr Abney showed him into his study. He seemed a self-possessed boy, very like but, if anything, uglier than the portrait of him which I had seen at the Hotel Guelph. A moment later the door opened, and my employer came out. He appeared relieved at seeing me. 'Ah, Mr Burns, I was about to go in search of you. Can you spare me a moment? Let us go into the dining-room.' 'That is a boy called Ford, Mr Burns,' he said, when he had closed the door. 'A rather--er--remarkable boy. He is an American, the son of a Mr Elmer Ford. As he will be to a great extent in your charge, I should like to prepare you for his--ah--peculiarities.' 'Is he peculiar?' A faint spasm disturbed Mr Abney's face. He applied a silk handkerchief to his forehead before he replied. 'In many ways, judged by the standard of the lads who have passed through my hands--boys, of course, who, it is only fair to add, have enjoyed the advantages of a singularly refined home-life--he may be said to be--ah--somewhat peculiar. While I have no doubt that _au fond ... au fond_ he is a charming boy, quite charming, at present he is--shall I say?--peculiar. I am disposed to imagine that he has been, from childhood up, systematically indulged. There has been in his life, I suspect, little or no discipline. The result has been to make him curiously unboylike. There is a complete absence of that diffidence, that childish capacity for surprise, which I for one find so charming in our English boys. Little Ford appears to be completely blase'. He has tastes and ideas which are precocious, and--unusual in a boy of his age.... He expresses himself in a curious manner sometimes.... He seems to have little or no reverence for--ah--constituted authority.' He paused while he passed his handkerchief once more over his forehead.