with dry lips and almost in a whisper.

"Not a farthing." And then with more emphasis--"Not a farthing."

A mist was before his eyes. The lock of the door clicked and Grell
shambled out. For ten minutes or more Ralph Fairfield remained, his
fingers twitching at the buttons of his waistcoat. A revulsion of
feeling had come. Had he done right? Was Grell's course the wisest,
after all? How had his own feelings towards Eileen influenced him in his
decision not to help the man who had been his friend?

He resolved to try to shake the matter from his mind, and his hand
sought the bell-push. Twice he rang without receiving any reply, and he
flung open the door and called imperatively--

"Roberts!"

Still his man failed to answer. He walked quickly through all the rooms
that constituted his apartments. There was no trace of the missing
servant. A quick suspicion tugged at his brain, and he wondered why he
had not thought of it before. Of course, Roberts knew Grell, but the
disguise of the explorer was not absolutely impenetrable. In spite of
his clothes, his missing moustache, and his tousled hair dyed black,
Fairfield had known him. Why not the servant? And if Roberts had
recognised him and was missing--

Fairfield began to hurriedly put on an overcoat.

CHAPTER XLI

The police court proceedings in connection with the gambling-joint in
Smike Street had opened satisfactorily so far as the police were
concerned. All the prisoners but the principals and those involved in
the attack on Heldon Foyle had been subjected to small fines, and were,
as the legal phrase goes, "bound over." The remainder had been remanded
for a week at the request of the prosecuting solicitor, a half-hearted
request for bail being refused.

For the first time since he had attained the rank of superintendent,
Foyle himself had gone into the witness-box. That was unavoidable, as he
was the only man who could give direct evidence of the character of the
house. Hitherto he had arranged so that the court work fell on his
subordinates while he gave his attention to organisation and
administrative detail; for the giving of evidence is only the end of the
work of a detective. There are men behind the scenes in most cases that
come into the criminal courts who are never told off, happenings never
referred to. They are summed up in the phrase "Acting on information
received, I----" The business of a detective is to secure his prisoner
and give evi