"Is there anything further for me to do?" I asked.

"One thing. I want you to get hold of some stockbroker you know, and get
him to tell you whether there was any kind of panic here, or on the
Continent, with regard to any foreign securities between three and four
years ago. Find out, if you can, the names of any members of the House
who were hammered during that period, and the names of any firms
considered shaky at the time. I am not hoping for much useful
information, but we may learn something to assist our guesswork."

The information I obtained on the following day amounted to little. As my
friend in Threadneedle Street said, three years on the Stock Exchange are
a lifetime. In the different markets there had been several crises during
the period I mentioned, and certain men, chiefly small ones, had gone
under. As for shaky firms, it was impossible to speak unless you were
closely interested. A good firm, under temporary stress, would probably
be bolstered up, and a week or two might find it in affluence again.

I went to Chelsea with the information, such as it was, but only saw
Zena. Quarles was out, and I did not see him for nearly a week. Then he
'phoned to me to call for him one evening and to come in evening dress.

"I am dining with Mr. Delverton to-night," he said, "and I asked him if I
might bring you. He returned to town at the beginning of the week, and I
have seen him two or three times, once at the office in Austin Friars. I
did not see Kellner, he happened to be away that day."

Martin Delverton lived in Dorchester Square, rather a pompous house, and
he was rather a pompous individual. Of course he wasn't a bit like