e than the girl
whose hand he held as they went down to the cheeriest restaurant in
London.

"I have had a queer interview," he said in his gruff, quick way, "I have
been to see the police."

"Oh, uncle!" she said reproachfully.

He jerked his shoulder impatiently.

"My dear, you don't know," he said. "I have got all sorts of people
who--"

He stopped short.

"What was there remarkable in the interview? she asked, after he had
ordered the lunch.

"Have you ever heard," he asked, "of Saul Arthur Mann?"

"Saul Arthur Mann?" she repeated, "I seem to know that name. Mann, Mann!
Where have I heard it?"

"Well," said he, with that fierce and fleeting little smile which rarely
lit his face for a second, "if you don't know him he knows you; he knows
everybody."

"Oh, I remember! He is 'The Man Who Knows!'"

It was his turn to be astonished.

"Where in the world have you heard of him?"

Briefly she retailed her experience, and when she came to describe the
omniscient Mr. Mann--"A crank," growled Mr. Minute. "I was hoping there
was something in it."

"Surely, uncle, there must be something in it," said the girl seriously.
"A man of the standing of the chief commissioner would not speak about
him as Sir George did unless he had very excellent reason."

"Tell me some more about what you saw," he said. "I seem to remember the
report of the inquest. The dead man was unknown and has not been
identified."

She described, as well as she could remember, her meeting with the
knowledgable Mr. Mann. She had to be tactful because she wished to tell
the story without betraying the fact that she had been with Frank. But
she might have saved herself the trouble, because when she was halfway
through the narrative he interrupted her.

"I gather you were not by yourself," he grumbled. "Master Frank was
somewhere handy, I suppose?"

She laughed.

"I met him quite by accident," she said demurely.

"Naturally," said John Minute.

"Oh, uncle, and there was a man whom Frank knew! You probably know
him--Constable Wiseman."

John Minute unfolded his napkin, stirred his soup, and grunted.

"Wiseman is a stupid ass," he said briefly. "The mere fact that he was
mixed up in the affair is sufficient explanation as to why the dead man
remains unknown. I know Constable Wiseman very well," he said. "He has
summoned me twice--once for doing a little pistol-shooting in the garden
just as an object lesson to all tramps, and once--co