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sudden change from the inane to the fervent which was extraordinarily convincing.
    Mr Campion, who was pacing rapidly up and down the room, now turned.
    â€˜However you look at it, I think you and your family are in for a pretty parroty time. That’s why I looked you up. “Ethel” and his friends are after the Chalice. And they’ll get it unless we do something.’
    Val was silent for some minutes, surveying his host with critical eyes. His colour had heightened, and the heavy muscles at the side of his jaw beneath his stubbly beard were knotted.
    â€˜The swine!’ he said suddenly. ‘Of course, if this comes off it’ll mean the end of us. As you know so much you must realize that this relic is the reason for our existence. We’re one of the oldest families in England. Yet we take no part in politics or anything else much, simply devoting ourselves to the preservation of the Chalice.’
    He stopped dead and glanced at his host, a sudden suggestion of suspicion in his eye.
    â€˜Why are you interesting yourself in this affair?’ he demanded.
    Mr Campion hesitated. ‘It’s rather difficult to explain,’ he said. ‘I am – or rather I was – a sort of universal uncle, a policeman’s friend and master-crook’s factotum. What it really boiled down to, I suppose, is that I used to undertake other people’s adventures for them at a small fee. If necessary I can give you references from Scotland Yard, unofficial, of course, or from almost any other authority you might care to mention. But last year my precious uncle, His Grace the Bishop of Devizes, the only one of the family who’s ever appreciated me, by the way, died and left me the savings of an episcopal lifetime. Having become a capitalist, I couldn’t very well go on with my fourpence-an-hour business, so that I’ve been forced to look for suitable causes to which I could donate a small portion of my brains and beauty. That’s one reason.
    â€˜Secondly, if you’ll respect my confidence, I have a slightly personal interest in the matter. I’ve been practically chucked out by my family. In fact most of it is under the impression that I went to the Colonies ten years ago …’
    Gyrth stopped him. ‘When you took off your spectacles a moment ago,’ he said, ‘you reminded me of …’
    Mr Campion’s pale face flushed. ‘Shall we leave it at that?’ he suggested.
    A wave of understanding passed over the boy’s face. He poured himself out another drink.
    â€˜I hope you don’t mind,’ he said, ‘but you’ve treated me to a series of shocks and opened a bit of a chasm beneath my feet. You’re a bit hard to swallow, you know, especially after the way you hooked me in here. How did you do it?’
    â€˜Conjuring,’ said Mr Campion simply and unsatisfactorily. ‘It’s all done with mirrors. As a matter of fact,’ he went on, becoming suddenly grave, ‘I’ve been looking for you for a fortnight. And when I spotted you I couldn’t approach you, because “George’s” friends were interested in you as well, and I didn’t want to put my head in a hornet’s nest. You see, they know me rather better than I know them.’
    â€˜I was followed?’ said Val. ‘What on earth for?’
    â€˜Well, they wanted to get hold of you, and so did I,’ said Mr Campion. ‘If a friend of mine had tapped you on the shoulder and led you into a pub, one of “George’s” friends would have come too. You had to come to me of your own volition, or apparently so. That explains why my people had to drop a score of envelopes under your nose before you’d rise to the bait. Lugg’s been spending his evenings at Kemp’s for the last fortnight. He’s my man, by the way.
    â€˜You see,’ he added apologetically, ‘I had to get you to go down to