An hour later Hugh Ritson was standing in the bar of the Hawk and Heron. His mind was made up; his resolve was fixed; his plan was complete.
"Anybody with him?" he said to the landlady, motioning toward the stairs.
"Not as I knows on, sir, but he do seem that restless and off his wittals, and I don't know as I quite understands why—"
Hugh Ritson stopped her garrulous tongue. "I have found the girl. She will come back to you to-night, Mrs. Drayton. If she brings with her the gentleman who left these boxes in your care, take him to your son's bedroom and tell him the person he wishes to see has arrived, and will be with him directly."
With this he went up the stairs. Then, calling down, he added: "The moment he is in the room come up and tell me."
A minute later he called again: "Where's the key to this door? Let me have it."
The landlady hobbled up with the key to Drayton's bedroom; the room was empty and the door stood open. Hugh Ritson tried the key in the lock and saw that the wards moved freely. "That will do," he said, in a satisfied tone.
The old woman was hobbling back. Hugh was standing in thought, with head bent, and the nail of his forefinger on his cheek.
"By the way, Mrs. Drayton," he said, "you should get the girl to help you a little sometimes."
"Lor's, sir, I never troubles her, being as she's like a visitor."