staged, Godfrey had said, and he
had also spoken of a bomb--a big one! I wondered what it could be,
One thing was certain: if Godfrey had prepared it, its explosion
would be startling enough!

There were a number of things at the office demanding my attention,
and I was so late in getting there and the morning passed so rapidly
that when the office-boy came in and announced that Mr. Grady and Mr.
Simmonds were outside and wished to see me, I did not, for a moment,
connect their visit with Godfrey. Then I looked at my watch, saw that
it was five minutes to twelve, and realised that the actors were
assembling.

"Show them in," I said, and they entered together a minute later.

Grady was evidently much perturbed. His usually florid face was drawn
and haggard, his cheeks hung in ugly lines, there were dark pouches
under his eyes, and the eyes themselves were blood-shot. I guessed
that he had not been to bed; that he had spent the night searching
for Crochard--and it was easy enough to see that the search had been
unsuccessful. Simmonds, too, was looking rather shaky, and no doubt
still felt the after-effects of that whiff of poison.

"I'm glad to see you are better, Simmonds," I said, shaking hands
with him. "That was a close call."

"It certainly was," Simmonds agreed, sinking into a chair. "If I had
got a little more of it, I'd never have waked up."

"Do you remember anything about it?"

"Not a thing. One minute we were sitting there talking together as
nice as you please--and the next thing I knew was when I woke up in
the bank."

"Where's that man Godfrey?" broke in Grady.

"He said he'd be here at noon," I said, and glanced at my watch.
"It's noon now. Were you to meet him here?"

Grady glanced at me suspiciously.

"Don't you know nothing about it?" he asked.

"I only know that Godfrey asked me to be here at noon to-day. What's
up?"

"Blamed if I know," said Grady sulkily. "I got word from him that I'd
better be here, and I thought maybe he might know something. I'm so
dizzy over last night's business that I'm running around in circles
this morning. But I won't wait for him. He can't make me do that!
Come along, Simmonds."

"Wait a minute," I broke in, as the outer door opened. "Perhaps
that's Godfrey, now."

And so it proved. He came in accompanied by a man whom I knew to be
Arthur Shearrow, chief counsel for the _Record_.

Godfrey nodded all around.

"I think you know Mr. Shearrow," he said,