The two confederates were punctual to the appointed time.  I blush to record it, but it is, nevertheless, necessary to state, that the third rogue—­the nameless desperado of my report, or, if you prefer it, the mysterious “Somebody Else” of the conversation between the two brothers—­is——­a woman! and, what is worse, a young woman! and, what is more lamentable still, a nice-looking woman!  I have long resisted a growing conviction, that, wherever there is mischief in this world, an individual of the fair sex is inevitably certain to be mixed up in it.  After the experience of this morning, I can struggle against that sad conclusion no longer.  I give up the sex,—­excepting Mrs. Yatman, I give up the sex.

The man named “Jack” offered the woman his arm.  Mr. Jay placed himself on the other side of her.  The three then walked away slowly among the trees.  I followed them at a respectful distance.  My two subordinates, at a respectful distance also, followed me.

It was, I deeply regret to say, impossible to get near enough to them to overhear their conversation, without running too great a risk of being discovered.  I could only infer from their gestures and actions that they were all three talking together with extraordinary earnestness on some subject which deeply interested them.  After having been engaged in this way a full quarter of an hour, they suddenly turned round to retrace their steps.  My presence of mind did not forsake me in this emergency.  I signed to the two subordinates to walk on carelessly and pass them, while I myself slipped dexterously behind a tree.  As they came by me, I heard “Jack” address these words to Mr. Jay:—­

“Let us say half-past ten to-morrow morning.  And mind you come in a cab.  We had better not risk taking one in this neighborhood.”

Mr. Jay made some brief reply, which I could not overhear.  They walked back to the place at which they had met, shaking hands there with an audacious cordiality which it quite sickened me to see.  Then they separated.  I followed Mr. Jay.  My subordinates paid the same delicate attention to the other two.

Instead of taking me back to Rutherford Street, Mr. Jay led me to the Strand.  He stopped at a dingy, disreputable-looking house, which, according to the inscription over the door, was a newspaper office, but which, in my judgment, had all the external appearance of a place devoted to the reception of stolen goods.  After remaining inside for a few minutes, he came out, whistling, with his finger and thumb in his waistcoat pocket.  Some men would now have arrested him on the spot.  I remembered the necessity of catching the two confederates, and the importance of not interfering with the appointment that had been made for the next morning.  Such coolness as this, under trying circumstances, is rarely to be found, I should imagine, in a young beginner, whose reputation as a detective policeman is still to make.