“You don’t want to bother your head about what Mr. Delkin says just now, Mr. Allerdyke,” he said, when Allerdyke had brought this story to an end.  “Never mind his theories—­there may be a lot in ’em, and there mayn’t be any more than his personal opinion in ’em.  Never mind, too, what Chilverton wants with Van Koon.  Nor if there’s any connection between Van Koon and Miss Slade, or Mrs. Marlow.  The thing to do is to find—­her!”

“You think she’s hooked it?” said Allerdyke.

“I should say that something said by some of you at that talk this morning in Fullaway’s room has startled her into action,” answered Appleyard.  “Now let’s get at facts.  You say she sent that wire from the East Strand post Office within ten minutes of your leaving her?  Very well—­I should say she was on her way to Arundel Street to see Rayner, alias Ramsay.  I wish we’d had a constant watch kept on him.  But we’ll soon repair that if you’ve sent for young Gaffney.”

The two Gaffneys arrived at that moment and Appleyard, after some further talk, assigned them their duties.  Gaffney, the chauffeur, was to go at once and get himself a room at an inn in close proximity to the Pompadour Hotel, so that he would be at Appleyard’s disposal at any hour of the coming evening and night.  Albert Gaffney, the clerk, was to devote himself to watching Rayner.  He was to follow Rayner wherever Rayner went from the time of his leaving Clytemnestra House that afternoon—­even if Rayner should leave town by motor or by train he was to follow.  For, as Appleyard sagely observed, it was not likely that Mrs. Marlow, alias Miss Slade, would return to the Pompadour Hotel that night if her fears had been aroused by what had taken place that morning, and it was a reasonable presumption that if she and Rayner were in league she would have communicated with him on leaving Fullaway’s office, and that they would meet again somewhere before the day was over.

“The only thing now,” said Appleyard, when the two Gaffneys had been presented with funds sufficient to carry each through all possible immediate emergencies, “is to arrange for a meeting to-night.  There are two matters we want to be certain about.  First, if Albert Gaffney witnesses any meeting between Rayner and Miss Slade, and, in that case, if he can tell us where they go and what they do.  Second, if they both return, or either of them returns to the Pompadour to-night.  So it had better be near the Pompadour—­somewhere in that district, anyhow.  Can you suggest any place?” he continued, turning to the chauffeur.  “You know that district well, don’t you?”

“Tell you the very spot, sir,” answered Gaffney promptly.  “Lancaster Gate itself, sir.  Close by there, convenient pub, sir—­stands back a bit from the road.  Bar-parlour, sir—­quiet corners.  What time, sir?”

Appleyard fixed half-past eleven.  By that time, he said, he should know if Mr. Rayner and Miss Slade had returned to the Pompadour; by that time, too, Albert Gaffney would be in a position to report his own doings and progress.  And so the two Gaffneys went off on their respective missions, and Allerdyke looked at his manager and made a grimace.