nner to-night. Oh, you needn't be afraid. I'm not a
Caesar Borgia. I shall not poison your meat, and your wine will not be
drugged. It will be rather a unique experience, detective and criminal
dining together, will it not? What do you say?"

The opportunity was so novel, that I decided to embrace it. Why should I
not do so since it was a very good excuse for keeping my man in sight?
He could scarcely play me any tricks at a fashionable restaurant, and I
was certainly curious to study another side of this man's complex
character. I accordingly accepted his invitation, and promised to meet
him at the well-known restaurant he named that evening.

"In the meantime you will telegraph to your clients, I suppose," he
said. "You may be able to give me their reply this evening when
we meet."

"I shall hope to be in a position to do so," I answered, after which he
bade me good-bye, and picking up his hat and stick left the room.

"Well," I said to myself when I was alone once more, "this is the most
extraordinary case upon which I have ever been engaged. My respect for
Mr. Hayle's readiness of resource, to say nothing of his impudence, is
increasing by leaps and bounds. The man is not to be met every day who
can rob his partners of upwards of a hundred and seventy thousand
pounds, and then invite the detective who is sent after him to a
friendly dinner."

I sat down and wrote a letter to Miss Kitwater, telling her all that
had occurred; then went out to despatch it with a telegram to Kitwater
himself, informing him of the offer Hayle had made. I could guess the
paroxysm of rage into which it would throw him, and I would willingly
have spared his niece the pain such an exhibition must cause her. I
could see no other way out of it, however. The message having been
despatched, I settled myself down to wait for a reply, with all the
patience I could command. In my own mind I knew very well what it would
be. It was not so much the money that Kitwater wanted, as revenge. That
Hayle's most miserable offer would only increase his desire for it, I
felt certain. Shortly after three o'clock, the reply arrived. It was
short, and to the point, and ran as follows--

"Tell him I will have all or nothing."

Here was a nice position for a man to find himself in. Instead of
solving the difficulty we had only increased it. I wondered what Hayle
would say when he heard the news, and what his next step would be. That
he would endeavour to bo