ened with deep attention,
nodding his head at the various points.

"Yes," he said, when Allerdyke had made an end, "yes, that's all right,
so far. Good, useful work. The thing is--can you fully trust these two
young men--your chauffeur and his brother?"

"I could and would trust my chauffeur with my last shilling," answered
Allerdyke. "And as for his brother, I'll take my man's word for him.
Besides, they both know--or Mr. Gaffney knows--that I'm a pretty generous
paymaster. If a man does aught for me, and does it well, he profits to a
nice penny!"

"A good argument," agreed Chettle. "I don't know that you could beat it,
Mr. Allerdyke. Well, well--we're getting to something and to somewhere!
Now, as you've told me all this, I'll just keep things quiet until I've
met you and your manager to-morrow, with these two Gaffneys--we'll have a
conference. I won't go near the Yard until after that. Eleven o'clock
to-morrow, then, at your warehouse in Gresham Street."

He presently replaced the watch and the postcard in an inner pocket, and
took his leave, and Allerdyke, letting him out, walked along the corridor
with him as far as the lift. And as Allerdyke turned back to his own
room, the third event of that day happened, and seemed to him to be the
most surprising and important one of all.

What made Allerdyke pause as he retraced his steps along the corridor,
pause to look over the balustrade to the floor immediately below his own,
he never knew nor could explain. But, just as he was about to re-enter
his room, he did so pause, leaning over the railings and looking down for
a moment. In that moment he saw Mrs. Marlow.

A considerable portion of the floor immediately beneath him was fully
exposed to the view of any one leaning over the balustrade as Allerdyke
did. This was a quiet part of the hotel, a sort of wing cut away from
the main building; the floor at which he was looking was given up to
private suites of rooms, one of them, a larger one than the others,
being Fullaway's, which filled one side of the corridor; the others
were suites of two, in some cases of three rooms. As he looked over and
down, Allerdyke suddenly saw a door open in one of these smaller
suites--open silently and stealthily. Then he saw Mrs. Marlow look out,
and she glanced right and left about her. The next instant, she emerged
from the room with the same stealthiness, closed and locked the door
with a key which she immediately pocketed, slipped