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"Oh, yes, you can depend on me," he said. "But can I depend on you, when you say Rupert Dunsmore will be there at that time and that place?"

It was a moment or two before Deede Dawson answered, and then his voice was very low and soft and confident as he said:

"Yes, you can--absolutely. You see, I know his plans."

"Oh, do you?" Dunn said as though satisfied. "Oh, well then, it's no wonder you're so sure."

"No wonder at all," agreed Deede Dawson. "There's just one other thing I can tell you. Some one else will be there, too, at Brook Bourne Spring in Ottam's Wood."

"Who's that?" asked Dunn sharply.

"The man," said Deede Dawson, "who is behind all this--the man you and I are working for--the man who's going to pay us, even better than he thinks."

"He--he will be there?" repeated Dunn, drawing a deep, breath.

"Yes, but you won't see him, and it wouldn't help you if you did," Deede Dawson told him. "Most likely he'll be disguised--a mask, perhaps; I don't know. Anyhow, he'll be there. Watching. I'm not suggesting you would do such a thing as never go near the place, loaf around a bit, then come back and report Rupert Dunsmore out of the way for good, draw your pay and vanish, and leave us to find out he was as lively and troublesome as ever. I don't think you would do that, because you sounded as if you meant what you said when you told me he was your worst enemy. But it's just as well to be sure, and so we mean to have a witness; and as it's what you might call a delicate matter, that witness will most likely be our employer himself. So you had better do the job thoroughly if you want your pay."

"I see you take your precautions," remarked Dunn. "Well, that's all right, I don't mind."

"You understand exactly what you've got to do?" Deede Dawson asked.

Dunn nodded.

"What about Allen?" he asked. "Does he take any part in this show?"

"He and I are planning a little visit to Wreste Abbey rather early the same night, during the dinner-hour most likely," answered Deede Dawson carelessly. "We can get in at one of the long gallery windows quite easily, Allen says. He kept his eyes open that day you all went there. It may be helpful to give the police two problems to work on at once; and besides, big as this thing is, there's a shortage of ready money at present. But our little affair at Wreste Abbey will have nothing to do with you. You mind what you've got to do, and don't trouble about anything else. See?"

"I see," answered Dunn slowly. "And if you can arrange for Rupert Dunsmore to be there at that time all right, I'll answer for the rest."

"You needn't be uneasy about that," Deede Dawson said, and laughed. "You see, I know his plans," he repeated, and laughed again; and still laughing that chill, mirthless way of his, he turned and walked back towards the house.

Dunn watched him go through the darkness, and to himself he muttered:

"Yes, but I wonder if you do."

CHAPTER XXIII

COUNTER-PLANS

The hour was late by now, but Dunn felt no inclination for sleep, and there was no need for him to return indoors as yet, since Deede Dawson, who always locked up the house himself, never did so till past midnight. Till the small hours, very often he was accustomed to sit up absorbed in those chess problems, the composing and solving of which were his great passion, so that, indeed, it is probable that under other circumstances he might have passed a perfectly harmless and peaceful existence, known to wide circles as an extraordinarily clever problemist and utterly unknown elsewhere.

But the Fate that is, after all, but man's own character writ large, had decreed otherwise. And the little, fat, smiling man bending over his travelling chess board on which he moved delicately to and fro the tiny red and white men of carved ivory, now and again removing a piece and laying it aside, had done as much with as little concern to his fellow creatures from the very beginning of his terrible career.

Outside, leaning on the gate where