t his renowned subordinate. The Chief Inspector stood
it well, deferential but inscrutable.

"I daresay you were right," said the Assistant Commissioner, "in telling
me at first that the London anarchists had nothing to do with this. I
quite appreciate the excellent watch kept on them by your men. On the
other hand, this, for the public, does not amount to more than a
confession of ignorance."

The Assistant Commissioner's delivery was leisurely, as it were cautious.
His thought seemed to rest poised on a word before passing to another, as
though words had been the stepping-stones for his intellect picking its
way across the waters of error. "Unless you have brought something
useful from Greenwich," he added.

The Chief Inspector began at once the account of his investigation in a
clear matter-of-fact manner. His superior turning his chair a little,
and crossing his thin legs, leaned sideways on his elbow, with one hand
shading his eyes. His listening attitude had a sort of angular and
sorrowful grace. Gleams as of highly burnished silver played on the
sides of his ebony black head when he inclined it slowly at the end.

Chief Inspector Heat waited with the appearance of turning over in his
mind all he had just said, but, as a matter of fact, considering the
advisability of saying something more. The Assistant Commissioner cut
his hesitation short.

"You believe there were two men?" he asked, without uncovering his eyes.

The Chief Inspector thought it more than probable. In his opinion, the
two men had parted from each other within a hundred yards from the
Observatory walls. He explained also how the other man could have got
out of the park speedily without being observed. The fog, though not
very dense, was in his favour. He seemed to have escorted the other to
the spot, and then to have left him there to do the job single-handed.
Taking the time those two were seen coming out of Maze Hill Station by
the old woman, and the time when the explosion was heard, the Chief
Inspector thought that the other man might have been actually at the
Greenwich Park Station, ready to catch the next train up, at the moment
his comrade was destroying himself so thoroughly.

"Very thoroughly--eh?" murmured the Assistant Commissioner from under the
shadow of his hand.

The Chief Inspector in a few vigorous words described the aspect of the
remains. "The coroner's jury will have a treat," he added grimly.

The Assist