was a secret agent to my certain knowledge.
Afterwards my friend took the trouble to ferret out the complete record
of that man for me. I thought I had better know all there was to know;
but I don't suppose you want to hear his history now, sir?"

The Assistant Commissioner shook his supported head. "The history of
your relations with that useful personage is the only thing that matters
just now," he said, closing slowly his weary, deep-set eyes, and then
opening them swiftly with a greatly refreshed glance.

"There's nothing official about them," said the Chief Inspector bitterly.
"I went into his shop one evening, told him who I was, and reminded him
of our first meeting. He didn't as much as twitch an eyebrow. He said
that he was married and settled now, and that all he wanted was not to be
interfered in his little business. I took it upon myself to promise him
that, as long as he didn't go in for anything obviously outrageous, he
would be left alone by the police. That was worth something to him,
because a word from us to the Custom-House people would have been enough
to get some of these packages he gets from Paris and Brussels opened in
Dover, with confiscation to follow for certain, and perhaps a prosecution
as well at the end of it."

"That's a very precarious trade," murmured the Assistant Commissioner.
"Why did he go in for that?"

The Chief Inspector raised scornful eyebrows dispassionately.

"Most likely got a connection--friends on the Continent--amongst people
who deal in such wares. They would be just the sort he would consort
with. He's a lazy dog, too--like the rest of them."

"What do you get from him in exchange for your protection?"

The Chief Inspector was not inclined to enlarge on the value of Mr
Verloc's services.

"He would not be much good to anybody but myself. One has got to know a
good deal beforehand to make use of a man like that. I can understand
the sort of hint he can give. And when I want a hint he can generally
furnish it to me."

The Chief Inspector lost himself suddenly in a discreet reflective mood;
and the Assistant Commissioner repressed a smile at the fleeting thought
that the reputation of Chief Inspector Heat might possibly have been made
in a great part by the Secret Agent Verloc.

"In a more general way of being of use, all our men of the Special Crimes
section on duty at Charing Cross and Victoria have orders to take careful
notice of anybody they may