Daly removed his hand and took out a cigarette.  “You’re not such a fool as some of my friends thought, I suspected this for some time.”

“We’ll get to business,” Foster rejoined.  “I want to get it finished, although I don’t think we’ll be disturbed.”

Daly gave him a keen glance, which Foster did not understand then, and the latter resumed:  “How did you find out enough about Featherstone to enable you to blackmail him?”

“I was secretary to the man he robbed; as a matter of fact, I stole one or two of his private papers.  I don’t know that I meant to use them then, but was afterwards in need of money and saw how it could be got.  The documents prove your partner’s offense.”

“You began by extorting money, but your last object was to suppress the evidence my partner could give about the cause of Fred Hulton’s death.”

“Ah!” said Daly.  “I wonder how much you or Featherstone know about that.  As there are no listeners, we can be frank.”

“Very well.  You claim to have documents that give you some power over Featherstone; I have others that give me power over you.  Have you got yours here?”

Daly smiled.  “I have not.  They’re kept where nobody but myself could find them.”

“I see,” said Foster.  “Any money you could extort from Featherstone was to be your private perquisite and not shared with the gang!  Well, I’ve brought my documents for you to examine.  This is a traveler’s circular check for yourself, and this is an ordinary bank check for another man.  Taken alone, they don’t prove very much, but I’ll try to show how they link up with other matters.”

He related how Carmen had given him the packet and his adventures in Newcastle, and when he finished Daly nodded.

“On the whole, you don’t argue badly.”

“I expect a lawyer prosecuting for the Crown would argue it better, particularly if I was ready to go into the witness-box.  Then, of course, there’s Featherstone’s evidence.”

For a moment Daly looked alarmed, but recovered his tranquillity without much effort, and Foster saw he had to face his first serious difficulty, though there was another.  If Daly knew how little Lawrence could really tell, it would be hard to deal with him.

“Something depends on the importance of Featherstone’s evidence.”

“Your accomplice thought it important, since he tried to throw him down the elevator shaft,” Foster rejoined.  “Anyhow, Featherstone saw the man who killed Fred Hulton.”

Daly’s smile rather disturbed him.  “Then it’s strange he said nothing about it at the inquiry, and when he was in the factory passage spoke to the man he saw as if he was the night guard.”

“That’s so.  You probably know more about the methods of the police than I do, but I understand they now and then keep something back, with an object.  Then Featherstone is not a fool.  He was satisfied to answer the questions he was asked.  You mustn’t take it for granted he didn’t know the man was a stranger.”