III + 

At twenty minutes to two that afternoon, Anthony stopped his car outside The Owl’s office. He had broken no record this time; his mind had been much occupied on the journey. The interviews he had held with Belford, Mabel Smith, and Elsie Syme before leaving Abbotshall had given him food for thought. + 

He found Hastings in his room, with him a little, dapper, sly-eyed Jew. “Discreet Inquiries. Divorces, Watching, etc.,” thought Anthony. + 

“This,” murmured Hastings, “is Mr. Pellett.” + 

“Ah, yes.” Anthony sat down heavily. He was tired and very hungry. He had not eaten since breakfast. Mr. Pellett displeased him. + 

“Mr. Pellett,” said Hastings, “has some information which should interest you. I have paid him fifty pounds. He wants another two hundred.” + 

“He would,” Anthony said. “And if he’s got what I want he shall have it.” + 

“Thath right,” said Mr. Pellett with a golden smile. + 

“It may be.” Anthony fixed him with a glittering eye. “Let us hear you, Mr.⁠—er⁠—Pellet.” + 

Mr. Pellett cleared his throat, produced a packet of papers, wiped his hands on a pink silk handkerchief and began. + 

“About theeth three newthpaperth,” he said⁠—and went on for one hour and fifty-seven minutes by the clock on Hastings’s table. + 

He got his two hundred pounds. + 