his pet project of a marriage could not come to pass, but there was no help for it, as he could not govern the young man's affections. Also he was annoyed because Vernon, when the death of his father occurred, would not let the elder man assist him. However, he told him his plans about the private inquiry office, and although the ex-police commissioner did not wholly approve, he judged from his knowledge of the young man's detective powers, that it was the best use he could put his talents to. More than this, he managed to bring him clients, and to spread the fame of Nemo by dexterous allusions. Vernon therefore was doing very well in the line he had struck out for himself, and felt duly grateful to Dimsdale for his assistance. He thought as he walked along Ralph Street that probably the old gentleman had found him a fresh client. But it was odd that Colonel Towton's chambers should have been chosen as the meeting place, since Dimsdale belonged to several clubs. And the matter, whatever it was, must be very important, else Dimsdale would have waited until Vernon paid his weekly visit to the Hampstead bungalow.
It was only a quarter-past ten o'clock when Vernon arrived, and he thought that he would have to wait. But Towton's servant intimated that Mr. Dimsdale was watching for his visitor in the Colonel's particular sanctum, and ushered the young man into the room, after relieving him of his coat and hat. The Colonel himself did not appear to be present, but Martin Dimsdale was smoking in a deep arm-chair, and jumped up in his boyish way to shake hands warmly. He always had a great regard for Arthur Vernon.
The room was an ordinary apartment, comfortably furnished, but in a strictly bachelor fashion. The scheme of colour was deep green and deep red, so that it appeared somewhat sombre. Trophies of Towton's sporting instincts in the shape of skins and heads appeared on the walls and on the floor. There were many military portraits and groups about, reminiscent of the Colonel's army life. The two windows were open and the curtains were pulled back, so that the room was fairly cool, while on the table stood a syphon, some glasses and a decanter of whisky, together with a box of cigars. These were at Mr. Dimsdale's elbow. He had evidently been passing the time in smoking and drinking pending his young friend's arrival.
"I'm glad to see you, boy," said the ex-police commissioner, pointing to a chair. "Sit down and make yourself at home. Towton gives me full permission to play in this yard. Have a peg and a cigar."
"Not too strong, please," warned Vernon, accepting a cigar and sinking into the indicated chair. "I haven't so steady a head as yours."
"It's a cleverer head," said Dimsdale, squirting in the potash. "Else I should not have asked you to meet me here--Nemo."
"Oh!" Vernon placed the glass beside him. "I thought it was a Case. But why did you ask me to meet you in Towton's rooms, and where is Towton?"
"At my sister's ball along with Ida and Miss Hest."
"Lady Corsoon's ball?"
Dimsdale sat down and nodded. "Yes. It's a swell affair, as Sir Julius wants to make an impression on some Australian people he desires to rope into his schemes for making money. Something to do with mines, I believe. I didn't feel inclined to go, although I daresay I'll have to look in later to fetch Ida and Miss Hest home. I wished particularly to see you." His manner assumed a portentous gravity. "So I asked Towton if I could come here and make the appointment."
"But at your club----"
"What I have to say is sacred and secret," interrupted the old gentleman. "A club has many eyes and many ears. Better be on the safe side. Oh, that's all right," he added with a nod, on seeing Vernon's eyes stray to the open window. "Those only look out over the roofs of houses. No one can hear us. Whisky all right; cigar drawing well? Very good. Now then!" He settled himself for an exhaustive talk.
The old Indian officer had certainly not been dried up by the hot climate where he had spent the greater part of his life. He was a round, tubby, rosy-faced little man, all curves and gracious contentment. His face was clean-shaven and his head was bald, while his sharp grey eyes twinkled behind golden-rimmed pince-nez, balanced on an unimportant nose. With his round head and round body--sphere super imposed on sphere--and short legs, he looked like the figure of a Chinese mandarin, and nodded his head like one when he wished to emphasise a point. There was nothing military about him in any way, and Vernon wondered how so natty and neat an old gentleman ever came to have command of men appointed to hunt down Dacoits in the jungles of Burmah. Yet Dimsdale's official career had been a stirring one, and he had done good service in pacifying the country after the war. Now he had beaten his sword into a plough-share, and, with a considerable fortune, was spending his amiable old age under his own fig-tree. When Vernon looked at the rotund little man with the round rosy face, he saw before him a perfectly contented human being, and a very kind-hearted one to boot.
"Well, sir," he said, leaning back comfortably, "we're tiled in, as masons say, so I shall be glad to hear what you have to tell me. Also, I am obliged to you for seeking out this especial case for me."
"Two special cases, my boy, two special cases," said Mr. Dimsdale, wagging his head and looking more like a Chinese mandarin than ever. "One has to do with me--I'll tell you about it later; the other has to do with Mrs. Bedge and her adopted son."
"Maunders!" cried Vernon, astonished to find that his premonition was coming true. "You don't mean Constantine?"
"Yes, I do, Arthur; of course I do. Young Maunders. I never did like that boy somehow in spite of his good looks and polite manners. After all, he's half a Greek, and I don't like the Greeks either. They're nearly as tricky as the Armenians, and that's saying a lot. All the same, I'm sorry for the sake of Emily. I'm an old friend of Emily. Ha, ha! I was in love with her before she married Bedge. He was a Levantine merchant, you know, dealt in currants and cherry jam and all the rest of it. Not a bad chap, from what I remember of him, but far too old a husband for Emily----"
"Do you mean Mrs. Bedge?" asked Vernon, vainly endeavouring to stem the flow of the old man's speech.
"Of course I mean Mrs. Bedge. I call her Emily because--ha! ha!--I was in love with her. She was a handsome girl in those years, and a good one. Why, look how she adopted that rascal--I can't help thinking young Maunders a rascal, though he does want to marry Ida, which is not to be thought of. Yes, yes! Emily always was good. I don't believe a word of it, not a word." And Mr. Dimsdale, bringing his fist down on the table, glared at his companion through his pince-nez.
"You don't believe a word of what?" asked Vernon soothingly.
"I'm coming to that; I'm coming to that. Don't worry me and hurry me." Mr. Dimsdale rubbed his nose in a vexed manner. "Young Maunders, now. Eh, what? Have you seen young Maunders lately?"
"It's odd you should ask that," said Vernon slowly, "because I have just parted from him at the Athenian Club."
"Don't have anything to do with him, Arthur; he's a bad lot, a very bad lot indeed. Oh, it's nothing that he has done. I wouldn't say to anyone else what I am saying to you. But I can read character, and I have observed Master Constantine. He's so selfish that he would boil Emily for his own gratification, if it pleased him. And she would let herself be boiled, too; she's as silly over the scamp as he is selfish towards her. Why do you cultivate his society? Eh, what? It's wrong and stupid; yes, yes, stupid and wrong."
"I haven't seen so very much of him since we left Oxford," objected Arthur, "and certainly I don't cultivate him, as you put it, for I admire his character as little as you do."
"And on more tangible grounds, perhaps? Eh, what? Tell me."
"No; I have not much to go on. At school and at college, and when we were children together in Berkshire, I never wholly liked Constantine. He's too selfish and too unscrupulous, although he always keeps on the right side of
