“Yes.”

“What can he possibly want with me?”

“That you had better hear from his own lips.”

Doctor Bourne looked puzzled, or, it might be said, a little disconcerted.

“From his own lips?” he iterated.

“If you please. That, I think, would be the best course.”

“Upon my word, Wrench, you are monstrously mysterious. What has the man to tell me?”

“I am not able to say.”

“Ah, very well, I will see the gentleman. I hope he will bring me good news. Perhaps a rich relative has died abroad, and left me some thousands—​eh?”

“I don’t think so,” observed Wrench, quietly.