“That it was money owing him. ‘What about this cheque?’ I asked him. ‘Oh, the governor owed me that,’ he said. But when I wanted something a bit more definite be dried up.

“Any other cheques of that sort?”

“No, I don’t know. I might inquire.”

“Perhaps it was salary.”

“No, Tulmin’s salary was paid monthly—£20 a month. This is an extra.”

“And he declares it is money owing?”

“Yes.”

“Well, perhaps it was,” I said, as we drew up outside the little post office where I had to make a call. “Anyway, I don’t think I would arrest Tulmin just yet. Tell the Chief you have that from me.”

But what I wanted to know more than anything just then was why John Tulmin was blackmailing Sir Philip Clevedon.

CHAPTER X
AN INVITATION FROM LADY CLEVEDON