"On Tuesday evening I am dining _en famille_," wrote Mr.Forbes, "so, if you are free, join us at 7:30, and we can talk uninterruptedly afterward." The train was not late.

Bates, erect and soldierly, was standing at the rendezvous.

With him were two men whom Theydon had never before seen.
One, a bulky, stalwart, florid-faced man of forty, had something of the military aspect; the other supplied his direct antithesis, being small, wizened and sallow.
The big man had a round, bullet head, prominent bright blue eyes, and the cheek bones, chin and physical development of a heavyweight pugilist.

His companion, whose dark and recessed eyes were noticeably bright, too, could not be more than half his weight, and Theydon would not have been surprised if told that this diminutive person was a dancing master.

Naturally he classed both as acquaintances of his valet, encountered by chance on the platform at Waterloo.
He was slightly astonished, therefore, when the two faced him, together with Bates.