"'No. 2. Milly must hear nothing of this.
"'No. 3. No blackmailing.'
"I considered. 'But if a lump payment,' I began. This I scratched out again.
"I had to scheme out the essential facts. 'What does S. know? What evidence exists? Of what? No clue to lead to Fanny? There is nothing but that journey in the train. He will have a moral certainty but will it convince anyone else?'
"I wrote a new heading: 'How to handle them?'
"I began to sketch grotesques and arabesques over my paper as I plotted. Finally I tore it up into very small fragments and dropped it into my wastepaper basket. A messenger-girl rapped and came in with a paper slip, bearing the names of Fred Sumner and Arthur Barnado.
"'They've not put the business they want to talk about,' I remarked.
"'They said you'd know, Sir.'
"'No excuse. I want everybody to fill in that,' I said. 'Just say I'm too busy to see strangers who don't state their business. And ask them to complete the form.'
"Back came the form: 'Enquiry about Mr. Sumner's missing wife.'