ter until another idea filled his mind.

"By Jove," he exclaimed, "I had quite forgotten the Colonel's message. I
was to go to Edward Street near the Borough and wait to see what I
should see. I'll just go and hang about there for half an hour or so on
the off chance, though I am as tired as a dog already. It seems to me
that I can't do better than take a cab."

A cab accordingly whirled Inspector Field to the upper end of Edward
Street, which is by no means a bad type of street for the Borough. The
houses are of a respectable class for the most part, the class of houses
that let lodgings to medical students and the like. It is not the sort
of thoroughfare that is generally given over to adventures, and Field
loitered about there for a long time before his search was rewarded.

He was chatting to a policeman on the beat, seeing that he could not
loaf there without arousing the suspicions of the intelligent officer on
duty, without disclosing his identity, when a couple passed him. The man
wore a long fawn overcoat and a silk hat; he was a well-dressed man, as
Field could see by his smartly cut trousers and patent leather boots. He
was not alone, for he had a lady with him, a lady with a handsome wrap.
There was a genuine West End air about these people that did not tally
at all with Edward Street, as Field did not fail to notice. People of
that stamp generally had a cab when there was any outing to be done at
that time of night.

"Pull those people up and ask them some question," Field whispered to
the officer. "I want to get a good look at their faces."

The matter was managed quite easily, though the man in the fawn coat was
short and inclined to be curt in his replies. But it sufficed for Field,
who expressed no astonishment as he recognized the features of the man
called "Reggie," and the woman called "Cora," whom he had seen the night
before at No. 100, Audley Place. In other words, he was once more hot
upon the scent of Countess de la Moray and General Gastang.

"Very good, indeed, Watson," he said. "That's a bit of luck I hardly
expected. I'll just follow these people and make certain. Good night."

Field had not far to go, seeing that the man in the fawn coat produced a
latchkey and let himself into a house a little farther down the road.
The house was an ordinary looking one enough, with plain green venetian
blinds and muslin curtains below. In the drawing-room window there was a
card to the effect that l