Almost immediately entered a big man, fresh complexioned and of modest bearing--a man, Mr. Belford determined after one shrewd glance, who, once he saw his duty clearly, would pursue it through fire and flood, but who frequently experienced some difficulty in this initial particular. "Sit down, inspector," said the politician genially, and with the appearance of wishing to hasten a distasteful business. "You would like to see the three communications which I have received from this man Bablon?" Sheffield, seated on the extreme edge of a big morocco-covered lounge-chair, nodded deferentially. Mr. Belford took up the bundle of letters. "This," he said, passing one to the man from Scotland Yard, "is that which I received upon the 28th ultimo." Chief-Inspector Sheffield bent forward to the shaded light and ran his eyes over the following, written in a neat hand upon a plain correspondence card: "Severac Bablon begs to present his compliments to His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department and to request the honour of a private interview, which, he begs to assure the right honourable gentleman, would be mutually advantageous. The words, 'Safe conduct.--W. B.,' together with time and place proposed, in the agony column of _The Times_, he will accept as a sufficient guarantee of the right honourable gentleman's intentions." "And this," continued Mr. Belford, selecting a second, "reached me upon the 7th instant": "Severac Bablon begs to present his compliments to His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department and to urge upon him the absolute necessity of an immediate interview. He would respectfully assure the right honourable gentleman that high issues are at stake." "Finally," continued the politician, as Sheffield laid the second card upon the table, "I received this upon the 13th instant--yesterday": "Severac Bablon begs to present his compliments to His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department and to inform the right honourable gentleman that he having failed to appoint a time of meeting, Severac Bablon is forced by circumstances to make his own appointment, and will venture to present himself at Womsley Old Place on the evening of the 14th instant, between the hours of 8 and 9." Mr. Belford leant back in his chair, turning it slightly that he might face the detective.