"
Gammon accepted this invitation and decided to send a telegram to
the china shop.
Their conference--tentative on both sides for the first half
hour--led eventually to a frank disclosure of all that was in their
minds with regard to Lord Polperro. Each possessed of knowledge that
made him formidable to the other, should their attitude be one of
mutual hostility, they agreed, in Greenacre's phrase, to "pool" all
information and then see how they stood. Herein Gammon had the
advantage; he learnt much more than it was in his power to
communicate, for, whilst Greenacre had been playing a deliberate
game, the man of commerce had become possessed of secrets only by
chance, which his friend naturally could not believe.
Greenacre had been to Ireland on the track of a woman whom Lord
Polperro had lost sight of for some five-and-twenty years; he had
obtained satisfactory evidence that this woman was dead--a matter of
some moment, seeing that, if still alive, she would have been his
lordship's wife. The date of her death was seven years and a few
months ago.
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