"Will you take it in notes, sir?"
Here Beaumont-Greene made his first blunder. He had an ill-defined idea that paper was dangerous stuff.
"In gold, please."
He forgot that gold is not easily sent in a letter. The tailor hesitated, but he had gone too far to back out.
"Very well, sir. I have not twenty-five pounds——"
"Thirty, if you please. I shall want thirty."
"I have not quite that amount here, but I can get it."
When the man came back with a small canvas bag in his hand, Beaumont-Greene had pocketed the letter. He received the money, counted it, thanked the tailor, and turned to go.
"If you please, sir——"
"Yes?"