a moment he stared
blankly, then apparently recognition came to his aid.

"Good afternoon, inspector," he responded, lifting his black felt
hat with a graceful motion that seemed strangely out-of-keeping with
his grotesque appearance. In the salutation he managed to include
Malcolm Sage, who acknowledged it with his customary jerky nod.

"We have just been looking at the laboratory," said the inspector.

"Ah!" Sir Jasper nodded his head several times. "The laboratory!"

"Will you oblige me with your pouch, Carfon," said Malcolm Sage,
drawing his pipe from his pocket. "I've lost mine."

Inspector Carfon thrust his hand into his left-hand pocket, then
began to go hurriedly through his other pockets with the air of a
man who has lost something.

"I had it a quarter of an hour ago," he said. "I must have dropped
it in the----"

"Allow me, sir," said Sir Jasper, extending to Malcolm Sage his own
pouch, which he had extracted from his tail-pocket, whilst the
inspector was still engaged in his search. Malcolm Sage took it and
with a nod proceeded to fill his pipe.

"Looks like Craven Mixture," he remarked without looking up from the
pipe which he was cramming from Sir Jasper's pouch.

Malcolm Sage was an epicure in tobacco.

"No; it's Ormonde Mixture," was the reply. "I always smoke it. It is
singularly mellow," he added, "singularly mellow." He continued to
look straight in front of him, whilst the inspector appeared anxious
to get on to the house.

Having completed his task, Malcolm Sage folded the tobacco-pouch and
handed it back to Sir Jasper.

"Thank you," he said, and proceeded to light his

Apparently seeing nothing to detain him further, Sir Jasper lifted
his hat, bowed and passed on.

"Regular old cure, isn't he?" remarked the inspector as they watched
the ungainly figure disappear round the bend of the drive.

"A great man, Carfon," murmured Malcolm Sage, "a very great man,"
and he turned and walked towards the house.

The front door of "The Hollows" was opened by the butler, a
gentle-faced old man, in appearance rather like a mid-Victorian
lawyer. At the sight of the inspector, a troubled look came into his
eyes.

"I want to have a few words with you," said Malcolm Sage quietly.

The old man led the way to the library. Throwing open the door for
them to pass in, he followed and closed it behind him. Malcolm Sage
seated himself at the table and Inspector Carfon also dropped into a
chair. The b