“May I speak with you privately for a few minutes, Mr. Lee?” he asked. He had taken a sudden resolution. “Certainly,” said the other courteously, and tapped his way into the hall and into his private study. For ten minutes Leon was closeted with him. When he came out, Meadows had gone down to his man at the gate, and Washington was standing disconsolately alone. Leon took him by the arm and led him on to the lawn. “There’s going to be real trouble here to-night,” he said, and told him the arrangement he had made with Mr. Johnson Lee. “I’ve tried to persuade him to let me see the letter which is in his safe, but he is like rock on that matter, and I’d hate to burgle the safe of a friend. Listen.” Elijah Washington listened and whistled. “They stopped the lawyer coming,” Gonsalez went on, “and now they’re mortally scared if, in his absence, the old man tells us what he intended keeping for his lawyer.” “Meadows is going to London, isn’t he?” Leon nodded slowly. “Yes, he is going to London—by car. Did you know all the servants were going out to-night?” Mr. Washington stared at him. “The women, you mean?” “The women and the men,” said Leon calmly. “There is an excellent concert at Brightlingsea to-night, and though they will be late for the first half of the performance, they will thoroughly enjoy the latter portion of the programme. The invitation is not mine, but it is one I thoroughly approve.” “But does Meadows want to go away when the fun is starting?” Apparently Inspector Meadows was not averse from leaving at this critical moment. He was, in fact, quite happy to go. Mr. Washington’s views on police intelligence underwent a change for the worse. “But surely he had better stay?” said the American. “If you’re expecting an attack . . . they are certain to marshal the whole of their forces?” “Absolutely certain,” said the calm Gonsalez. “Here is the car.” The Rolls came out from the back of the house at that moment and drew up before the door. “I don’t like leaving you,” said Meadows, as he swung himself up by the driver’s side and put his bag on the seat. “Tell the driver to avoid Lawley like the plague,” said Leon. “There’s a tree down, unless the local authorities have removed it—which is very unlikely.” He waited until the tail lights of the machine had disappeared into the gloom, then he went back to the hall. “Excuse me, sir,” said the butler, struggling into his greatcoat as he spoke. “Will you be all right—there is nobody left in the house to look after Mr. Lee. I could stay——” “It was Mr. Lee’s suggestion you should all go,” said Gonsalez briefly. “Just go outside and tell me when the lights of the char-à-banc come into view. I want to speak to Mr. Lee before you go.”