“By following out the plan suggested yesterday evening. I have seen Mr. Danvers to-day, and he has accepted my invitation to supper. I had some difficulty in inducing him to agree to come here. He wanted me to hold the affair at my rooms in Gibraltar, but I told him that I had invited a fellow who did not care to show himself on English territory, and with whose company he would be delighted.”
“And how do you know that I would not care to go to Gibraltar?”
“Natural inference, my dear sir. Perhaps I shouldn’t be too fond of the place myself if my real name was known there.”
“So you masquerade under an alias?”
“Certainly. Just as you do.”
“Precisely. But I would like to set your mind at rest on one point. I have not the slightest objection to go to Gibraltar. So if Mr. Danvers objects to coming here I will meet him on his own ground. Did you hold out any other inducement to Mr. Danvers to tempt his presence at our proposed supper?”
“Yes; I told him that my friend Miss Stratton would be present, and promised him a great treat, for she is both clever and handsome.”
“Exceedingly so, Mr. Bootle. Cleverer than most people would be inclined to believe; but even such abnormal cleverness as hers over-reaches itself sometimes.”
“Possibly. She isn’t infallible. But after next Friday her mission in Spain will be ended, and she can then return to safer quarters.”
For some time after this remark very little was said. Then Mr. Staines, seeing an acquaintance of his at the other end of the saloon, asked Mr. Bootle to excuse him for five minutes, and left him to meditate the progress of affairs by himself.