eagerness had carried him closer to the girl, noticed for
the first time on her neck a bruise left by Black's urgent fingers. A
sudden, unreasoning temper swept him with the necessity for atonement.
Impulsively he burst out:

"Inspector, one of the beasts you want is behind those curtains."
Nora cried out.

"Jim! You might have let me have that. His wife!"

The inspector glanced from one to the other.

"What's on your mind, Nora?"

Manford laughed easily.

"No sentiment in this game, young woman. If we thought of the wives
there'd be few arrests."

With an air of satisfaction, as if the climactic feature of the raid had
been reserved for his importance, he snatched the curtains open. Black
cowered in the embrasure of the boarded window, glaring out at his
brother-in-law. He moistened his lips.

"Don't let them tell Anna, Billy."

Manford's satisfaction, founded on a self-imposed superiority, suddenly
expired. He became rather pitifully human. His cheeks darkened. His
insinuating antagonism for the inspector dwindled and faltered, finally,
into a passionate mendicancy. He would meet any terms to spare his
sister's entanglement in the destroying scandal.

"I'm afraid you might think the police didn't do its duty," the
inspector said softly. "I just heard your own motto--no sentiment for
the wives."

Garth had not shifted his glance from Nora. Her disapproval more and
more impressed him, yet, with the bruise still eloquent on her white
neck, he forced himself only with distaste to bargain.

"He's my prisoner, Manford. If the inspector says the word we'll tamper
with the law and get him away and home. There's one condition. He does
as I say for the next couple of years--takes any treatment I suggest."

"Don't worry. I'll see to that," Manford said. "It's good of you,
Garth."

He turned to his brother-in-law.

"Are you willing, John?"

Black stumbled from the embrasure. He reached out his hands appealingly.

"Yes, yes. I want to--with all my heart."

"Then, inspector--" Manford began.

The inspector winked good-humouredly.

"Since we're all such old friends I agree. I've never had a come-back
yet from reading a little humanity and mercy into the law. You've a good
deal to learn about police work, young man. Let's start your education
now. We'll see what the boys have bagged."

CHAPTER XIII

ALSOP'S INCREDIBLE VISITOR

When the crowded police van had left, Nora, Garth, and the inspector