bbed!"

Sergeant Burton knelt down and gingerly laid his hand upon the stained
linen over the breast of Sir Lucien.

"Dead?" asked the Inspector, speaking from the inner doorway.

"Yes."

"You say, sir," turning to Quentin Gray, "that this is Sir Lucien Pyne?"

"Yes."

Inspector Whiteleaf rather clumsily removed his cap. The odor of Seton's
cheroot announced itself above the oriental perfume with which the place
was laden.

"Burton!"

"Yes?"

"See if this telephone in the office is in order. It appears to be an
extension from the outer room."

While the others stood grouped about that still figure on the floor,
Sergeant Burton entered the little office.

"Hello!" he cried. "Yes?" A momentary interval, then: "It's all right,
sir. What number?"

"Gentlemen," said the Inspector, firmly and authoritatively, "I am about
to telephone to Vine Street for instructions. No one will leave the
premises."

Amid an intense hush:

"Regent 201," called Sergeant Burton.

CHAPTER VI. RED KERRY

Chief Inspector Kerry, of the Criminal Investigation Department, stood
before the empty grate of his cheerless office in New Scotland Yard,
one hand thrust into the pocket of his blue reefer jacket and the other
twirling a malacca cane, which was heavily silver-mounted and which
must have excited the envy of every sergeant-major beholding it. Chief
Inspector Kerry wore a very narrow-brimmed bowler hat, having two
ventilation holes conspicuously placed immediately above the band. He
wore this hat tilted forward and to the right.

"Red Kerry" wholly merited his sobriquet, for the man was as red
as fire. His hair, which he wore cropped close as a pugilist's, was
brilliantly red, and so was his short, wiry, aggressive moustache.
His complexion was red, and from beneath his straight red eyebrows he
surveyed the world with a pair of unblinking, intolerant steel-blue
eyes. He never smoked in public, as his taste inclined towards
Irish twist and a short clay pipe; but he was addicted to the use of
chewing-gum, and as he chewed--and he chewed incessantly--he revealed a
perfect row of large, white, and positively savage-looking teeth. High
cheek bones and prominent maxillary muscles enhanced the truculence
indicated by his chin.

But, next to this truculence, which was the first and most alarming
trait to intrude itself upon the observer's attention, the outstanding
characteristic of Chief Inspector Kerry was his compact neatne