Mr. Dawkins bowed.
"And I am constantly, I may say continually, with the head of the firm."
Mr. Dawkins bowed again.
"Now, it struck me," said Gray, leaning forward and gazing shrewdly at the young lawyer, "that I might be of some service to you over this legacy business. Of service to you and myself at the same time."
Mr. Dawkins raised his eyebrows, but said nothing.
"For reasons of my own," he went on, realizing for the first time that his proposal was a blackguardly one, "I am disposed to assist you towards the end for which you are working. In this, my two friends, who enjoyed the legacies at the same time as myself, are willing to help. The three of us, in fact, to cut the matter short, will work together. And I can assure you that we shall work in earnest."
At Gray's vehement tones the lawyer stuck a thumb in the armhole of his waistcoat, and laughed.
"Getting a bit of your own back, eh?"
Gray nodded. "We have exceptional opportunities," he added. "Opportunities which you, as a man of business, will understand are not open to the ordinary detective, nor for that matter to an extraordinary one. One or other of us can be always at his elbow."
"His very shadow, in fact," said the lawyer.