ight!"

"That you certainly don't!" answered the Chief promptly, "if I
thought you did Duff and No.39 should be sacked on the spot!"

"Then it wasn't Miss Mackwayte who told you?"

"I haven't seen or heard from Miss Mackwayte since she left my
office yesterday evening. You were followed!"

"But why?"

"I'll tell you all about it at, lunch!"

Bated once more, Desmond retired into his shell. By this he was
convinced of the utter impossibility of making the Chief
vouchsafe any information except voluntarily.

Mr. Marigold had evidently announced their coming to Scotland
Yard, for a very urbane and delightful official met them at the
entrance and conducted them to a room where the prisoner was
already awaiting them in charge of a plain clothes man. There the
official excused himself and retired, leaving them alone with the
prisoner and his escort.

Barney proved to be a squat, podgy, middle-aged Jew of the
familiar East End Polish or Russian type. He had little black
beady eyes, a round fat white face, and a broad squabby Mongol
nose. His clothes were exceedingly seedy, and the police had
confiscated his collar and tie. This absence of neckwear, coupled
with the fact that the lower part of his face was sprouting with
a heavy growth of beard, gave him a peculiarly villainous
appearance:

He was seated on a chair, his head sunk on his breast. His eyes
were hollow, and his face overspread with a horrible sickly
greenish pallor, the hue of the last stage of fear. His hands,
resting on his knees, twisted and fiddled continually. Every now
and then convulsive shudders shook him. The man was quite
obviously on the verge of a collapse.

As the Chief and Desmond advanced into the room, the Jew looked
up in panic. Then he sprang to his feet with a scream and flung
himself on his knees, crying:

"Ah, no! Don't take me away! I ain't done no 'arm, gentlemen!
S'welp me, gentlemen, I ain't a murderer! I swear..."

"Get him up!" said the Chief in disgust, "and, look here, can't
you give him a drink? I want to speak to him. He's not fit to
talk rationally in this state!"

The detective pushed a bell in the wall, a policeman answered it,
and presently the prisoner was handed a stiff glass of whiskey
and water.

After Barney had swallowed it, the Chief said:

"Now, look here, my man, I want you to tell me exactly what
happened last night. No fairy tales, remember! I know what you
told the police, and if I catch you spin