Bawdsey winked. "I know my business," he said. "You don't find me sending myself up on any occasion. Any more questions, sir?" "Only one," replied George. "Will you tell me exactly what you are doing in this galley?" "Certainly. You shall have the whole story, Mr. Brendon. But in the first place I shall ask you a question in my turn. Do you know why I asked you to come and see me to-day?" Brendon shook his head. "I have not the least idea," he confessed. "I'll enlighten you," was the other man's reply; "to warn you that you are in danger of arrest." "I in danger of arrest?" George jumped up. "What do you mean?" "Oh, my meaning is clear enough. There is a chance that you may be accused of having murdered Mrs. Jersey." George dropped back into his chair with a white face. "You must be mad to say such a thing. Who accuses me?" "Lord Derrington." "On what grounds?" "On certain information he obtained from Mrs. Ward." "What? Is she in it, too?" "Very much in it. She is your bitter enemy. You see, Mr. Brendon, it is not her game that you should marry the daughter. Mrs. Ward knows that you are a clever man with a will of your own, and that she will not be able to twist you around her finger, which is what she wishes to do with any son-in-law who may come her way. That young fool Vane is the man she wants. He will inherit the title and a good income. Mrs. Ward, should he marry the girl, will benefit. If the title and income came your way she would make very little out of the business. Consequently she will stick at nothing to get you out of the way." "But she doesn't know that I claim to be Lord Derrington's grandson?" "Indeed, she does," replied Bawdsey, quickly. "Derrington told her all about it." "Why?" "Now that," said Bawdsey, shaking his head and looking puzzled, "is one of the things I can't make out." George thought for a moment. "I was at Mrs. Ward's the other evening," he said slowly. "Lord Derrington was there. Did he know then that I was his grandson?" "He did. He has known ever since you put the advertisement in the paper and I looked you up." "Humph! Then he was putting me through my paces," said Brendon to himself. "What a clever man he is in concealing his thoughts. And Mrs. Ward knew also who I was?" Bawdsey nodded. "Yes. And after that evening she came to see Lord Derrington to suggest how you should be got rid of." "Ah!" George was now perfectly cool as he saw that Bawdsey, being so frank, was ready to be his friend. "And how did she propose to do that, Mr. Bawdsey? By having me arrested----" "With the alternative that you should give up all attempts to prove your birth and go to Australia." "And surrender my claim to Miss Ward's hand, I suppose?" "Of course. But that would go without speaking if you went to Australia. It's a case of threatening, Mr. Brendon." "Was Lord Derrington agreeable to this suggestion?"