As George stepped out of the front door he came face to face with Bawdsey, who was mounting the steps. The man seemed excited, and carried a carelessly folded newspaper which he had apparently been reading. He did not seemed pleased to meet Brendon, and looked at him in a suspicious manner.

"I didn't expect to see you here!" he said, with a certain degree of roughness.

"I did not know that this house was interdicted to me," replied Brendon, sharply. He liked neither the tone nor the peremptory manner of Bawdsey, and, moreover, was not prepossessed in his favor by the report which Lord Derrington had made of the man's duplicity. "I am glad to meet you, however," continued George, "as I wish to have a few words."

"I am too busy to give you any time," retorted Bawdsey, and tried to enter the house.

"Nevertheless, you will give me a quarter of an hour," said George, blocking the doorway with his stalwart form. "What I have to say cannot be left until a more convenient period."

"I tell you I am busy, Mr. Brendon."

"And I tell you that I intend to have this interview," rejoined Brewton, imperiously. "You talk a great deal about gratitude, Bawdsey, yet you are unwilling to put yourself out for me in the least degree."

Bawdsey became penitent at once. "It is true, Mr. Brendon. But I am very worried." He cast a glance at the newspaper in his hand. "However, you have first call upon my time, so we will go to my room."

"That's as it should be."

No more words passed. Bawdsey mounted the stairs and led George into the well-remembered room. Brendon took a chair, and Bawdsey, with an anxious look, threw himself into another. The man's face was flushed, his red hair was in disorder, and his eyes were bright. As a rule he was calm and self-controlled, so George conjectured that something particularly important must have occurred to upset him. However, Bawdsey's troubles were none of his business, and he began talking at once of his reason for seeking the interview. "I had a conversation with Lord Derrington the other evening," he said deliberately, "and we talked of you."

"Then you heard no good of me," replied Bawdsey, with a sneer. "Lord Derrington does not like me."

"That matters little. No liking can exist between a man in Lord Derrington's position and his paid servant."

"Oh, you call me that, do you, sir?"

"What else are you? Lord Derrington engaged you as his agent to watch me, and that you have done."

"Not lately. I have given you a free hand."

"In any case I have a free hand," said George, loftily. "You were grateful enough for my service in saving your life to release me from your espionage, but had you not done so I should have taken means to put a stop to your dogging my footsteps."

"You would not have known had I not told your Mr. Brendon."

"Oh, yes, I should. In any case, I should have seen my grandfather, and he would have told me."

"No, sir. He is your enemy."

"That is where you are wrong, Bawdsey. He is my friend."

The detective looked astonished. "Do you mean to say that Lord Derrington has climbed down?" he demanded incredulously.

"It is strange, is it not," said George, in a bantering tone, "but, as a matter of fact, after a long conversation, Lord Derrington and myself came to understand one another. He intends to recognize me as his heir."

"Has he then learnt where the marriage took place?" asked Bawdsey, starting from his seat, and again glancing anxiously at the newspaper which lay on a small table at his elbow.

"No. We have yet to find that out. But he is quite satisfied from the hints of the late Mrs. Jersey that a marriage did take place, and he wishes to make amends to me for his unjust conduct as regards my mother's memory and myself."

"Whew! What means did you take to force him to recognize you?"

"I used no force at all," responded Brendon, very dryly.

"Lord Derrington would not climb down unless he were made to."

"As a matter of fact he did. The olive branch was held out by him. All this is none of your business, Mr. Bawdsey, and I only tell it to you to clear the ground for what I am about to say."

"It's something disagreeable, I bet," said Bawdsey, scanning the set face of his visitor.

"Your penetration does you credit, sir. It is disagreeable."

Bawdsey settled himself comfortably in his chair. "Then the sooner we grasp the nettle the sooner will the pain be over," he said, with quite an Eastern wealth of parable. "But first, Mr. Brendon, I should like to know your exact position."

"Oh, that is easily explained, and there is no reason why you should not know what all London will know soon. Lord Derrington will join with me in searching for the register of marriage, and meanwhile will recognize me as his grandson and the heir to his estates."

"Not a very large income for a future peer," murmured Bawdsey.

George took no notice of this. "In a fortnight I leave my Kensington rooms and take up my residence with Lord Derrington in St. Giles Square. Then I shall assume my real name of George Vane."

"And you will marry Miss Ward, I suppose."

"That is entirely my business," said George, placidly. "You will gain nothing by insolence, Bawdsey."

The man rose with a wounded air. "Upon my word, Mr. Vane," he said, giving George his correct name to show that he recognized his new position, "I have not the slightest intention of being insolent. I am glad for your sake that things are as they are, and pleased for my own, since Lola may now give up thoughts of you and turn to me."

"That's all very well, Bawdsey," said Brendon quietly. "You profess a great friendship for me, but how can I trust you?"

"I have never deceived you yet."

"I have not given you the chance of doing so; but if the opportunity offered, and it was convenient to you, I am quite sure you would sell me--as the saying goes--to the highest bidder."

"Why should you doubt me?" asked Bawdsey, still wounded.

"I can only judge the future by the past, and since you are quite ready to play Lord Derrington false----"

"Who says that?" cried the man, sitting down, but looking defiant.

"I say so. Lord Derrington has told me all."

"All what?" demanded Bawdsey, willfully ignorant.

"All that took place on the night when you came to this house to impersonate him."

Bawdsey laughed, and his face cleared. "If that is your disagreeable business, sir, I can easily put that to rights."

"Can you explain why you drugged him, why you threatened him?"

"I did not threaten him."

"Lord Derrington informed me that you threatened to get him into trouble. That was why he consulted me, and that is why I have come to tell you that if you fight Lord Derrington you will fight me also. Lord Derrington is old, but I am young, and I am quite equal to dealing with you."

"I never denied that," said Bawdsey, calmly. "I quite recognize that you are a strong man, Mr. Vane, although it is not to my interest to admit as much."

"That's your business," rejoined George, coolly. "I play with all my cards on the table. What those are which you have concealed I do not know, but I am quite prepared to play the game. And at the present moment you need not call me by my father's name. I have not yet assumed my position. When I do, George Vane will have nothing to do with you."

"But George Brendon has," said Bawdsey, with a flash of his eyes. "Don't press too hard, Mr. Brendon. I am willing to do you a service, and you are misjudging me."

"I am sorry you should think so. Let us cease this bickering. I am willing to hear what you have to say."

"If you are satisfied with my explanation, will you endeavor to get Lola to marry me?"

"That has nothing to do with me."

"But you have influence with her."

"It shall not be used to make her miserable. I know nothing about you save what my grandfather told me, and his report does not bias me in your favor. For all I know you might make poor Lola the worst husband in the world."

Bawdsey shrugged his shoulders. "Lola is well able to look after herself," he said. "I think I mentioned that before. But if you are satisfied with what I am about to tell you, will you help me?"

"I'll do my best," said George, impatiently. "Lola is sure to lose this engagement sooner or later through her vile temper. I do not want to see her on the streets again, and she may as well be supported by you in a respectable manner as by any one else. Besides, as you truly say, she can take care of her own skin. But I shall not advise her to marry you unless you prove to me that you did not intend to blackmail Lord Derrington."

"Nothing was further from my thoughts," said Bawdsey, earnestly; "it was to my interest that your grandfather should hold his tongue about my having been to this house----"

"He would not have known had you not told him voluntarily."

"Oh, yes, he would have discovered in some way. I thought it best to be on the right side by confessing voluntarily what I had done. I said I could get him into trouble--and I admit that I did threaten him so far--simply to make him hold his tongue."

"You were afraid lest you should be accused of the crime?"

Bawdsey looked at George in surprise. "That possibility never crossed my mind," he replied calmly. "I certainly did not kill the woman. Do you think I did, Mr. Brendon?"

George shrugged his shoulders. "Going by circumstantial evidence----"

"Oh!" Bawdsey flipped away that objection with a snap of his fingers, "that's all right; I will explain. No, Mr. Brendon; why I wished Lord Derrington to be silent was that I might carry out my plans so as to learn who killed Mrs. Jersey."

"Then you are looking after the case?"

"On behalf of Lord Derrington. He has an idea that the assassin became possesse............