a man with his
hands tightly bound with a scarlet muffler gathered a momentary little
crowd at the Inn gate; but, a pair of hansoms being summoned, captives
and captors were speedily relieved from vulgar observation. The station
reached, it turned out that the communicative Mr. Barter, in the
exuberance of his heart, had exposed to the officer _en route_ the
whereabouts of the lost notes. He declared that to his knowledge they
rested in a safe, the position of which he indicated, in Steinberg's
Hatton Garden office. The Inspector before whom the charge was made
deemed this intelligence worthy of being acted on at once. The two
prisoners were searched, and Mr. Barter was so good as to point out,
among Steinberg's keys, those which were necessary for the purposes of
investigation. He even went so far as to offer his assistance as guide;
but this was declined with a chilliness singularly at variance with the
solicitous warmth of the proposal.

'I think, sir,' said the Inspector, with an arctic disrespect which was
so frozen as to be almost respectful, 'that we can manage this without
your assistance.'

The Divisional Superintendent, being communicated with by telephone,
arrived upon the scene. The matter in hand having been laid before him
with curt official brevity, he asked for the keys, called to himself a
constable, and was preparing to set out, when Philip begged permission
to accompany him.

'The notes, sir,' he said, 'were left in my father's trust by a dear
old friend of his. My father himself was supposed to have made use of
them--a thing of which he was incapable. If I can take to him the news
that they are found, I can lift a load of undeserved disgrace from the
mind of an honourable man.'

'I shall be pleased to have your company, Mr. Bommaney,' the
Superintendent answered, touched a little by the young man's
earnestness. So the three got into a four-wheeler, and bowled away to
Hatton Garden, and there made entry into the chambers lately occupied by
Mr. Steinberg. There was no gas here, but the constable's dark lantern
showed the way. It revealed the safe in the position the communicative
criminal had assigned to it. It revealed the notes, snugly spread out in
one crisp little heap, and arranged with business-like precision in the
order of their numbers.

This golden spectacle once seen, Phil dashed into the street, hailed a
hansom, and drove pell-mell, exciting the cabman who conducted him by
the promi