where that
other bullet had lodged, and--the secret was out at last!

CHAPTER XXI

"A LUNNON GENTLEMAN"

"By all that's good!" he ejaculated, as Mr. Narkom jumped into the room
somewhat heavily at sound of his hastily spoken ejaculation. "See that
mark there in the woodwork, above the spot where we dug the bullet out
this morning? Nearly shot me through the head, old friend, and made an
end of your troublesome ally at last! Gad! the ingenuity of it! The
devilish ingenuity! So _that's_ how it was done, eh? We'll look into the
thing a bit closer, but from what I have already seen I'd say there was
a pistol hidden inside that wheel, but the thing's so perfectly done
that it must have taken a master-hand to have done it. And where's the
master-hand here? Ross Duggan?--with his hobby for electricity? He's not
got the face of a man who could contrive a thing like that, and carry it
out to such a pitch of perfection. And yet--it's a soundless pistol, all
right, that did the deed. But the patience of the manipulator! the
straightness of vision, to be certain of the moment to operate it! That
man would be a useful adjunct to Scotland Yard's force, Mr. Narkom, with
knowledge such as that. It's the most diabolically clever thing I've
ever encountered!"

"It is--by James! it is!" returned the Superintendent, mopping his
forehead in his excitement and going very red in the face. "Sure it
isn't a woman, old chap? Women are pretty tricky people in affairs of
this kind. And the contrivance of it, too!... So _that's_ how it is
done, is it?" as Cleek's agile fingers slid over the wheel and stopped
upon a faint line which showed how the thing had been cut out and then
stuck in again after the pistol had been lodged in its hiding-place.
"Here; use my knife and dig it out, won't you?"

"Never! The time for doing that will be after I have given a
demonstration of its prowess before the assembled company. I'm no master
at intricate woodwork and mechanism such as that, Mr. Narkom, and I want
to keep it in perfect working order for the crucial moment. If I
extracted it now, ten chances to one I'd never get it back again. The
thing to be discovered is to find out the man in this establishment
whose fingers give him away as a delicate worker. And there's just one
I've noticed that----"

And it was just as the name formed itself upon his lips that Cyril
Duggan burst hurriedly into the room, despite the detaining hands of the
const