ound which had attracted my attention, or
the state of the householder's nerves.

"Very good," said Coysh, making notes on an envelope. "And then you saw
him off by the last train: did he say where he was going at that time of
night?"

"To sleep at some club, I understood."

"And next morning?"

But I was sorry I had gone so far.

"Mr. Coysh," I said, "I'm here to let the houses on this Estate, and to
look after odd jobs for the people who take them. It's not my business
to keep an eye on the tenants themselves, still less to report their
movements, and I must respectfully decline to say another word about Mr.
Abercromby Royle."

The engineer put away his envelope with a shrug.

"Oh, very well; then you force me to go into details which I on my side
would vastly prefer to keep to myself; but if you are sincere you will
treat them as even more confidential than your own relations with Mr.
Royle. You say you are hardly friends. I shall believe it if you stick
to your present attitude when you've heard my story. Royle and I,
however, have been only too friendly in the past, and I should not
forget it even now--if I could find him."

He made a meaning pause, of which I did not avail myself, though
Delavoye encouraged me with an eager eye.

"He was not only my solicitor," continued Coysh; "he has acted as my
agent in a good many matters which neither lawyers nor patent agents
will generally undertake. You've heard of my Mainspring bicycle, of
course? It was in his hands, and would have paid him well when it comes
off, which is only a question of time." His broad face lit with
irrelevant enthusiasm and glowed upon us each in turn. "When you think
that by the very act of pedalling on the level we might be winding
up--but there! It's going to revolutionise the most popular pastime of
the day, and make my fortune incidentally; but meanwhile I've one or two
pot-boilers that bring me in a living wage in royalties. One's an
appliance they use in every gold-mine in South Africa. It was taken up
by the biggest people in Johannesburg, and of course I've done very well
out of it, this last year or two; but ever since Christmas my little bit
has been getting more and more overdue. Royle had the whole thing in
hand. I spoke to him about it more than once. At last I told him that if
he couldn't cope with our paymasters out there, I'd have a go at them
myself; but what I really feared was that he was keeping the remittances
bac