k it up and laid it
on your table, sir."

"All right," said Cleek, and resumed his journey up the stairs, passing
a moment later into his private room and the presence of Maverick
Narkom.

The superintendent, who was standing by the window looking out into the
brilliant radiance of the morning, turned as he heard the door creak,
and immediately set his back to the things that had nothing to do with
the conduct of Scotland Yard, and advanced toward his famous ally with
that eagerness and enthusiasm which he reserved for matters connected
with crime and the law.

"My dear Cleek, such a case; you'll fairly revel in it," he began
excitedly. "As I didn't expect to find you out at this hour of the
morning, I dispensed with the formality of 'phoning, hopped into the
car, and came on at once. Dollops said you'd be back in half a minute,
and," looking at his watch, "it's now ten since I arrived."

"Sorry to have kept you waiting, Mr. Narkom," broke in Cleek, "but--look
at these," pulling the tissue paper from an oblong parcel he was
carrying in his hand and exposing to view a cluster of lilies of the
valley and La France roses. "They are what detained me. Budleigh, the
florist, had his window full of them, fresh from Covent Garden this
morning, and I simply couldn't resist the temptation. If God ever made
anything more beautiful than a rose, Mr. Narkom, it is yet to be
discovered. Sit down, and while you are talking I'll arrange these in
this vase. No; it won't distract my attention from what you are saying,
believe me. Somehow, I can always think better and listen better when
there are flowers about me, and if----"

He chopped off the sentence suddenly and laid the flowers down upon his
table with a briskness born of sudden interest. His eye had fallen upon
the letter of which Dollops had spoken. It was lying face upward upon
the table, so that he could see the clear, fine, characterful hand in
which it was written and could read clearly the Devonshire postmark.

"My dear Cleek," went on Narkom, accepting the invitation to be seated,
but noticing nothing in his eagerness to get to business, "my dear
Cleek, never have I brought you any case which is so likely to make your
fortune as this, and when I tell you that the reward offered runs well
into five figures----"

"A moment, please!" interjected Cleek agitatedly. "Don't think me rude,
Mr. Narkom, but--your pardon a thousand times. I must read this letter
before I give