auffeur, dropping to the ground, rummaged
fiercely with the interior. Green leaned back in the shadow, his eyes
fixed on the steps leading to Grell's house. There was a sufficient air
of plausibility about the whole accident to impress any one but the most
suspicious.

Heldon Foyle had entered the hotel, for he did not care to run the risk
of frightening his quarry by showing himself again until it was
necessary. But he kept a vigilant eye on the clock. Promptly as the
hands touched ten minutes past eight he made his way once more to the
corner of Grosvenor Gardens. A labourer, with corduroy trousers tied
about the knee and a grimy, spotted blue handkerchief about his neck,
approached him with unlit pipe and a request for a match.

"Red Ike's gone along," he said, as Foyle supplied him. "Nobody else has
been hanging round except Freddy. The constable on the beat passed along
just after Ike."

The match, was dropped in the gutter, and the superintendent, his face
set grimly, moved slowly on. The labourer crossed to the other side of
the road and followed. Foyle was quite near the house when Green walked
up, accompanied by his chauffeur, and made quickly up the steps. Shadowy
in the fog, the superintendent could see the dim outline of a
constable's uniform. The man was peering anxiously at the doorway
through which Green had gone.

"Well, my man," said Foyle sharply, "are you on duty here? Who are those
people who have just gone in there?"

The policeman gave a barely perceptible start, and then took a pace
forward.

"I--I believe they have no right there. I must go and see," he said, but
was brought up with a jerk as Foyle's hand clutched his wrist. The
labourer who had wanted a light was coming across the road at a run and,
though a little puzzled, had seized the constable's other hand.

"No, you don't," said Foyle peremptorily. "When you masquerade as a
policeman again, my friend, make sure you have a letter of the right
division on your collar. This district is B, not M. I am a police
officer, and I shall arrest you on a charge of being concerned in an
attempt at housebreaking. You'd better not make a fuss. Come on,
Smithers. Let's get him into the car."

The prisoner made no resistance. He seemed dazed. Once in the car, the
detective took the precaution to handcuff him to his subordinate--right
wrist to the officer's left wrist--for he did not know how long the wait
for Green might be, and it seemed wisest