IV
THE UNRECORDED ABDUCTION
I
Lord Stranleigh! One moment, if you please."
The young man knew he was being followed through the deserted streets of London, yet during the walk he had never once turned round since he left the imposing portico of the Corinthian Club, just as the great clock in the tower of the Parliament building boomed forth the hour of two in the morning. He surmised that his stealthy follower was no spy, but some poor wretch who wanted money. If the beggar had accosted him as he came down the steps of the Corinthian, Stranleigh would have bestowed upon him half-a-crown, for he always gave a donation to him who asked for it, and was thus the despair of the Charity Organisation Society. He contributed liberally to that useful body, but the arguments of its secretary against indiscriminate giving seemed to have little effect on his lordship, whose right hand instinctively sought his trousers
