h I had scrawled the
name of the person it represented; one being the highly unpopular
minister, Mr. Todd-Leeks, and the other the notorious Mrs. Gamway.

"They were very sketchily built and would have dropped to pieces at a
touch. But that was of no consequence. The time factor was the important
one; and I had worked at such speed that I had huddled them into a
pretty plausible completeness when the inevitable peal at the house bell
disturbed my labors. I darted into the parlor, crammed a piece of bread
into my mouth and rushed out to the shop door, chewing frantically. As I
opened the door, an agitated police inspector burst in, followed by a
sergeant.

"'Good morning, gentlemen,' I said suavely. 'Hair-cutting or shaving?'

"I shall not record the inspector's reply. I was really shocked. I had
no idea that responsible officials used such language. In effect, they
wished to look over the premises. Of course I gave instant permission,
and followed them in their tour of inspection on the pretext of showing
them over the house.

"The inspector was in a very bad temper and the sergeant was obviously
depressed. They conversed in low tones as they stumped up the stairs and
I heard the sergeant say something about 'an awful suck in.'

"'Oh, don't talk of it,' snapped the inspector. 'It's enough to make a
cat sick. But what beats me is how those devils could have stuck the
air of that room. It would have settled my hash in five minutes.'

"'Yes,' agreed the sergeant; 'and how they could have let themselves
down from that window without being spotted. I wouldn't have believed it
if I hadn't seen the cord. The constables must have been asleep.'

"'Yes,' grunted the inspector; 'thickheaded louts. Let's have a look out
here.' He strode into the second floor back and threw up the window.
'Now you see,' he continued, 'what I mean. This house has no connection
with the next one. That projecting wing cuts it off. This back yard
opens into Bell's Alley; the yard next door opens into Kosher Court.
That's the way they went. They couldn't have got to this house excepting
by the roof, and we've seen that they went down, not up.' He stuck his
head out of the window and looked down sourly at the guys.

"'Those things yours?' he asked gruffly, pointing at the effigies.

"'No,' I answered. 'I think one of Piper's men is getting them ready to
take round.'

"The inspector grunted and moved away. He walked into the front room,
looked i