Vernon looked up astonished. "How do you propose to secure him? If you arrest him, his accomplice will spread the lies you talk of, by postcard amongst your acquaintances, as is usually the case in The Spider's business."
"I'll risk that, sir; I'll risk that," said Dimsdale with a defiant air; "but I'm hanged if he'll get a penny out of me. I shall set the trap, and you will be in this room behind a screen to rush out and seize him when I give the signal. Understand? Eh, what? Understand? Come, come! Speak up."
"What sort of trap do you propose to lay?" asked Arthur cautiously.
"Well," Dimsdale leaned back, twisting his half-smoked cigar between his fingers. "It was the masked ball--this silly form of entertainment, which Ida insists upon having for her birthday--which gave me the idea. You see, with the chance of being masked and mingling amongst my guests, The Spider will be the more ready to come, and will suspect nothing. I am writing to him to-morrow, telling him about this ball, and am suggesting that he should come wearing a mask to enjoy it. Then, at eleven o'clock, say, he can secretly meet me in this room to receive the money."
"Cash?" echoed Vernon significantly. "Of course. The fellow's too clever to risk cheques. They would put the police on his track; would put the police on his track, my boy."
"But do you intend to pay the money?"
"No, no, no, no! How stupid you are, Arthur. Use your brains, use your brains, boy. I shall offer to pay the money, and then you, concealed behind the screen--that Japanese one up in the corner--can rush out and----"
"But I have no authority to arrest him," interrupted Vernon impatiently. "Why not post a policeman, or a plain-clothes detective, to catch the beast?"
"I don't want any policeman in my house," retorted Dimsdale gruffly; "and you are detective enough for me. If he blackmails me, you will be the witness, and we will have every right to hold him. Then you can take him away and hand him over to the Hampstead police."
"He may show fight."