ratulations, and he was really glad when the
limousine, answering to orders, rolled up, the final good-byes were
said, and he and Mr. Narkom swung off townward together.

But despite the fact that he had just carried to a successful
conclusion a case which would go far to enhance his reputation and
to hasten the day for which he had so long and so earnestly worked,
Cleek was singularly uncommunicative, markedly abstracted, as they
rode back through the streets of Portsmouth Town on their way to
the highroad; and had the superintendent been more observant and
less wrapped up in the glory that was to be theirs as the result of
the day's adventure, he might have discovered that, while his
ally seemed to be dozing stupidly when he was not leaning back
in a corner and smoking, he was all the time keeping a close watch of
the crowded streets through which they were speeding as if looking
for some one or something he expected to see. Nor did he relax
this peculiar system of vigilance even after the town itself had
dropped away into the far distance, and the car was scudding along
over the broad stretches and the less-frequented thoroughfares of
the open country.

"I shall not go all the way back with you, if you don't mind, Mr.
Narkom," he said, breaking silence abruptly, as they raced along.
"Just set me down at the place where you picked me up this morning,
please, and I will do the rest of the journey by train."

"Cinnamon! Why?"

"Oh, just a mere whim of mine, that's all. No--don't press me for an
explanation, please. 'Where ignorance is bliss,' et cetera. Besides,
I'm a whimsical beggar at best, you know--and who bothers to inquire
why a donkey prefers thistles to hay? So just drop me down when we
reach the outskirts of Guildford, if you will be so kind."

Mr. Narkom was discreet enough to drop the subject at that and to
make no further allusion to the matter until they came, in the
fulness of time, to the place in question. Here he called Lennard
to a halt, and Cleek alighted--not furtively, nor yet in haste--and,
standing beside the car, reached in and shook hands with him.

"Until you want me again," he smiled in his easy, offhand way. "And
if that turns out to be a long time off I shan't be sorry. Meanwhile,
if you wish to do me a favour, look about for a limousine of another
make and a quite different colour. I've an odd idea that this one is
fast coming to the end of its career of usefulness. Good-bye. All
r