f Inspector Keeble or anybody else has been mixing my name up with any
scandal about females, I'll have him up for slander and libel and damages
as sure as I stand here."

Inspector Keeble looked away, and then looked at the detective--as if for
support in peril.

"Do you mean to say, Aguilar, that you haven't got a woman hidden in the
house at this very moment?" the detective demanded.

"I'll thank ye to keep a civil tongue in your head," said Aguilar. "Or I'll
take ye outside and knock yer face sideways. Pardon me, madam. Of course I
ain't got no woman concealed on the premises. And mark ye, if I lose my
place through this ye'll hear of it. And I shall put a letter in the
_Gardeners' Chronicle_, too."

"Well, ye can go," the detective responded.

"Yes," sneered Aguilar. "I can go. Yes, and I shall go. But not so far but
what I can protect my interests. And I'll make this village too hot for
Keeble before I've done, police or no police."

And with a look at Audrey like the look of a knight at his lady after a
joust, Aguilar turned to leave the room.

"Aguilar," Audrey rewarded him. "You needn't be afraid about your place."

"Thank ye, m'm."

"May I ask what your name is?" Audrey inquired of the detective as soon as
Aguilar had shut the door.

"Hurley," replied the detective.

"I thought it might be," said Audrey, sitting down, but not offering seats.
"Well, Mr. Hurley, after all your running after Miss Susan Foley, don't you
think it's rather unfair to say horrid things about a respectable man like
Aguilar? You were funny about that stout wife of yours last time I saw you,
but you must remember that Aguilar can't be funny about his wife, because
he hasn't got one."

"I really don't know what you're driving at, miss," said Mr. Hurley simply.

"Well, what were you driving at when you followed me all the way to London
the other day?"

"Madam," said Mr. Hurley, "I didn't follow you to London. I only happened
to arrive at Charing Cross about twenty seconds after you, that was all. As
a matter of fact, nearly half of the way you were following me."

"Well, I hope you were satisfied."

"I only want to know one thing," the detective retorted. "Am I speaking to
Mrs. Olivia Moncreiff?"

Audrey hesitated, glancing at Madame Piriac, who, in company with the vast
Inspector Keeble, was carefully inspecting the floor. She invoked wisdom
and sagacity from heaven, and came to a decision.

"Not that I know of," she