He imagined Luke bearing a deep grudge against the girl and against Grail--for he knew that the friendship between Luke and the latter had plainly come to an end.

In his love of gossip, he could not keep the story to himself, and he thought that Ackroyd would be the safest of confidants.

In fact, though he spoke to Mrs.Butterfield as if he had conceived some deep plan of rascality, the man was not capable of anything above petty mischief.

He liked to pose in secret as a sort of transpontine schemer; that flattered his self-importance; but his ambition did not seriously go beyond making trouble in a legitimate way.

He did indeed believe that something scandalous was going on, and it would be all the better fun to have Ackroyd join him with malicious pleasure in a campaign against reputations.