ve reason to think that when you came into this room," he said in
measured tones, "it was not Michaelis who was in your mind; not
principally--perhaps not at all."

"You have reason to think, sir?" muttered Chief Inspector Heat, with
every appearance of astonishment, which up to a certain point was genuine
enough. He had discovered in this affair a delicate and perplexing side,
forcing upon the discoverer a certain amount of insincerity--that sort of
insincerity which, under the names of skill, prudence, discretion, turns
up at one point or another in most human affairs. He felt at the moment
like a tight-rope artist might feel if suddenly, in the middle of the
performance, the manager of the Music Hall were to rush out of the proper
managerial seclusion and begin to shake the rope. Indignation, the sense
of moral insecurity engendered by such a treacherous proceeding joined to
the immediate apprehension of a broken neck, would, in the colloquial
phrase, put him in a state. And there would be also some scandalised
concern for his art too, since a man must identify himself with something
more tangible than his own personality, and establish his pride
somewhere, either in his social position, or in the quality of the work
he is obliged to do, or simply in the superiority of the idleness he may
be fortunate enough to enjoy.

"Yes," said the Assistant Commissioner; "I have. I do not mean to say
that you have not thought of Michaelis at all. But you are giving the
fact you've mentioned a prominence which strikes me as not quite candid,
Inspector Heat. If that is really the track of discovery, why haven't
you followed it up at once, either personally or by sending one of your
men to that village?"

"Do you think, sir, I have failed in my duty there?" the Chief Inspector
asked, in a tone which he sought to make simply reflective. Forced
unexpectedly to concentrate his faculties upon the task of preserving his
balance, he had seized upon that point, and exposed himself to a rebuke;
for, the Assistant Commissioner frowning slightly, observed that this was
a very improper remark to make.

"But since you've made it," he continued coldly, "I'll tell you that this
is not my meaning."

He paused, with a straight glance of his sunken eyes which was a full
equivalent of the unspoken termination "and you know it." The head of
the so-called Special Crimes Department debarred by his position from
going out of doors personall