afraid you cannot help me?"

"I can help you in a way you little dream of," Venner said through his
teeth. "For the present, at any rate, you had better do exactly as
Fenwick tells you. I am not going to leave you here all alone, when we
have a chance like this; after dinner, I am going to take you to a
theatre. Meanwhile, I must leave you now, as I have much work to do, and
there is no time to be lost. It will be no fault of mine if you are not
absolutely free from Mark Fenwick before many days have passed."

Venner sat alone at dinner, keeping a critical eye open for whatever
might be going on around him. He had made one or two little calculations
as to time and distance, and, unless his arithmetic was very far out, he
expected to learn something useful before midnight.

The meal had not proceeded very far when two strangers came in and took
their places at a table close by. They were in evening dress and appeared
to be absolutely at home, yet, in some subtle way, they differed
materially from the other diners about them. On the whole, they might
have passed for two mining engineers who had just touched civilisation
after a long lapse of time. Venner noticed that they both ate and drank
sparingly, and that they seemed to get through their dinner as speedily
as possible. They went off to the lounge presently to smoke over their
coffee, and Venner followed them. He dropped into a seat by their side.

"You have forgotten me, Mr. Egan," he said to the smaller man of the two.
"Don't you remember that night on the Bowery when I was fortunate enough
to help you to lay hands on the notorious James Daley? You were in rather
a tight place, I remember."