But Doyle remained silent.

"He'll have a power of money, whoever he is," said Moriarty.

He and the sergeant looked at Doyle and waited. Doyle still remained
silent. The door of the office of the Connacht Eagle opened and Thaddeus
Gallagher shambled along the street. He was a tall, grizzled man,
exceedingly lean and ill-shaven. His clothes, which were shabby, hung
round him in desponding folds. His appearance would have led a stranger
to suppose that the Connacht Eagle was not a paying property. He greeted
Sergeant Colgan and Moriarty with friendly warmth. When he had nothing
else to write leading articles about he usually denounced the police,
accusing them of various crimes, from the simple swearing away of the
liberties of innocent men to the debauching of the morals of the young
women of Ballymoy. But this civic zeal did not prevent his being on
perfectly friendly terms with the members of the force. Nor did his
strong writing rouse any feeling of resentment in the mind of the
sergeant. He and Moriarty welcomed the editor warmly and invited him to
inspect the car.

Thaddeus Gallagher looked at the car critically. He rubbed his hand
along the dusty mud guard, opened and shut one of the doors, stroked the
bulb of the horn cautiously, and then turned to Doyle.

"Is it the Lord-Lieutenant you have within in the hotel?" he asked.

He spoke with a fine suggestion of scorn in his voice. As a prominent
local politician Thaddeus Gallagher was obliged to be contemptuous of
Lords-Lieutenant. Doyle looked offended and at first made no reply.
Sergeant Colgan, acting as peacemaker, spoke in a noncommittal, but
soothing tone.

"It might be," he said, "it very well might be."

"It is not then," said Doyle. "Nor it's not the Chief Secretary."

"If it's not," said Gallagher, "it's some other of them fellows out of
Dublin Castle."

"It's a high up gentleman surely," said Sergeant Colgan.

"And one that has money to spare," added Constable Moriarty. "It could
be that he's one of the bosses of the Congested Districts Board.
Them ones is well paid and has motors kept for them along with their
salaries, so they tell me anyway."

Then Mary Ellen came out of the hotel. She stood at a little distance
and smiled pleasantly at Constable Moriarty. Doyle turned on her.

"What is it that you want now, Mary Ellen?" he said. "Why aren't you
within attending on the gentleman?"

"Sure I am," said Mary Ellen.

"You are not," said Do