He moved thoughtfully out into the open street. Something there was about her that seemed familiar it might have been the eyes, the walk, or her voice. He had gone a hundred yards when he came to a sudden halt.
"I'd bet a thousand dollars to a cent that that woman's Gwennie Lyne."
The discovery half inclined him to return. The dark figures of two men brushed by him and he walked quickly on, turning as the sound of their feet died away. He moved back till he was opposite the house and watched, irresolute. No sound came from it and he turned away again. It seemed hours before he had got clear of those desolate streets into a main road and encountered the comforting blue uniform of a constable. To him he addressed a question.
"Taxi," repeated the man, studying him with speculation. "Lord bless your heart. You won't get a taxi here at this time of the night. Where do you want to go?"
His eyes opened wider as Jimmie named his hotel. But he made no comment. "Keep straight on till you get into the city," he said. "Then you might get a cab."
It was three o'clock in the morning, before, wearied in body and mind, he dropped thankfully into bed.
He was still in bed when the detective arrived at his hotel and he sat up to receive him. His chin was jutted out doggedly and there was a wary look in his eye. He regarded the chief inspector, ominous that events which concerned him were afoot but uncertain how much was known.
"Come in, Menzies," he said heartily. "I couldn't stop to see the fun out last night because I met a friend and wanted to get her out of the way of any trouble. How did it go?"
Menzies dropped to rest at the foot of the bed. "I didn't come up here last night," he said solemnly, "because I couldn't trust myself not to break your jaw."
Jimmie's eyebrows shot up in ingenuous astonishment. "So! I didn't know you allowed personal feelings to interfere with your duty. You're a pugnacious brute, Menzies. There's some cigarettes on the table behind you. Help yourself and pass me one. Now--" he sent out a blue ring of smoke "tell me why you want to smash me."
His attitude was different from what Menzies had expected. There might have been defiance, a blank wall of obstinacy, but this touch of badinage, even though the defiance and obstinacy might still be behind it, was a little more difficult. Menzies' opinion of Hallett went up. He exhibited his bandaged hand.
"This is one reason. Cincinnati Red got another and worse one. I don't know how he is this morning, but if he dies it's you who'll have to be thanked." He had no fear of the "con "man's wound proving fatal, but Jimmie's chaff needed a little quenching.
Hallett's face grew more serious. "Gun-play, eh? I'm sorry to hear that. Still, you bagged your man."
"Bagged hell," said Menzies. "I beg your pardon but even my vicar could forgive me in the circumstances. Of course we didn't. However, I didn't come here to satisfy your curiosity but my own. Where did you leave that woman? Where is she now?"
Hallett lay back in bed and laughed. "I see now," he gasped. "That's quite a natural mistake. You've heard that I took a girl away and you think it was Peggy Miss Greye-Stratton."
"Mrs. Ling," corrected the inspector. "I don't think I know." He menaced the other with his forefinger. "I'm not going to fence with you. Out with it."
Jimmie frowned. "Don't take that tone with me," he warned. "I'm about sick of being bullied. I tell you for your own satisfaction that it was not that lady. It was someone quite different, a friend of mine, who happened to be dining in the restaurant. I took her out because I didn't want her to be there when the trouble arose. Now take that or leave it. I don't care a tinker's curse whether you believe it or not." His hand sought the bell over his head.
"I should leave that bell alone," ordered Menzies curtly. "It won't do to push me too far." Hallett dropped his hand. "You can tell the lady's name, of course, and bring her to prove it?"
"I have said so," said Jimmie coldly.
Something flashed for an instant in Menzies' hand. '' Then you're a liar," he cried and his weight crushed the other back on the bed. The detective's left hand was not so badly injured as to be totally useless, and Jimmie, taken by surprise and at a disadvantage, was unable to put up any sort of a fight. In three minutes his arms were round a bedpost and a pair of patent self-adjusting handcuffs encircled his wrists.
It needed the physical tussle to make his equanimity give way. He was angry very angry, and the crowning indignity of the handcuffs chafed his spirit even more than his wrists. The detective calmly extinguished a smouldering spark that threatened the bedclothes and tossed Jimmie's cigarette away. He might have been a block of wood for all the notice he took of his passion and his protests. He resumed his seat and went on quietly smoking his cigarette with an air of placid satisfaction.
Jimmie realised quickly that his most barbed epithets were passing over the detective's head. The first spasm of wrath passed. He gulped something in his throat. "If you haven't gone mad," he said, his voice vibrating with the effort he made to control himself, "perhaps you'll be gracious enough to explain."
"That's better much better," said Menzies encouragingly. "You'll soon be polite if you persevere."
"Well "Hallett choked again. "Tell me, what are you arresting me for?"
"I'm not arresting you, sonnie. Oh, yes, I know. I'm going to act in an even more flagrantly illegal manner. I'll take the risk of being broke. You can't tell me anything about that. You'll have plenty of chance to appeal to your ambassador. Or if you like you can bring me before a police court for assault."
He spoke with a certain bitterness that was not lost upon his hearer. Weir Menzies had spent a lifetime in the service of Scotland Yard and knew exactly what he was risking. He was behaving, as he had said, with flagrant illegality that could scarcely be justified even on the suspicions he harboured. He had faced Ling's bullets more cheerfully than this, which, if anything went wrong, would lead to inevitable dismissal from the service.
Jimmie wriggled himself out of bed to a sitting position. "This is a fool's game to play," he protested more mildly. "What do you expect to gain by it, anyway?"
"I don't mind telling you now you're more or less in your senses. By the way, I apologise for calling you a liar. It slipped out. But "he brought his clenched fist heavily down on the bedclothes "I warned you what would happen if you stood in my way. You spoilt things last night I'll do you the credit to suppose that it was without deliberation. Still you were tacitly on your honour and it was treachery to me when you did what you did."
Hallett flushed. "Easy, Mr. Menzies. You'd have done the same in my place."
"I wouldn't," denied the other. "I've been fair to you all through and you've done your best to thwart every scheme of mine because "He checked himself suddenly as he saw the change on Jimmie's face. "Then you insult my common sense now by telling me that this girl was at the Petit Savoy that it was someone else."
"You don't know all the circumstances," said Hallett.
"No, but I'm going to. I formally ask your permission now to search your clothes. I warn you I intend to do it whether you give me your permission or not."
Hallett hesitated for a moment. "Oh, very well, then," he said at last "Go on."
Chapter XXI
It is easy to see a mistake after it has been made. Jimmie recognised his with the first chill touch of the handcuffs. He had merely dropped out of his clothes the night before, not troubling to remove or inspect anything. The least he should have done was to have placed the address Peggy had given him in safety.
He