ould haul me away in handcuffs!"

When Kerry came to the foot of the stairs, Mollie quite deliberately got
in his way, murmured an apology, and gave him a sidelong gaze through
lowered lashes, which was more eloquent than any thesis. He smiled with
fierce geniality, looked her up and down, and proceeded to mount the
stairs, with never a backward glance.

His genius for criminal investigation possessed definite limitations. He
could not perhaps have been expected in tactics so completely opposed to
those which he had anticipated to recognize the presence of a valuable
witness. Student of human nature though undoubtedly he was, he had
not solved the mystery of that outstanding exception which seems to be
involved in every rule.

Thus, a fellow with a low forehead and a weakly receding chin, Kerry
classified as a dullard, a witling, unaware that if the brow were but
low enough and the chin virtually absent altogether he might stand in
the presence of a second Daniel. Physiognomy is a subtle science, and
the exceptions to its rules are often of a sensational character. In the
same way Kerry looked for evasion, and, where possible, flight, on
the part of one possessing a guilty conscience. Mollie Gretna was a
phenomenal exception to a rule otherwise sound. And even one familiar
with criminal psychology might be forgiven for failing to detect guilt
in a woman anxious to make the acquaintance of a prominent member of the
Criminal Investigation Department.

Pausing for a moment in the entrance of the club, and chewing
reflectively, Kerry swung open the door and walked out into the street.
He had one more cover to "beat," and he set off briskly, plunging into
the mazes of Soho crossing Wardour Street into old Compton Street, and
proceeding thence in the direction of Shaftesbury Avenue. Turning to
the right on entering the narrow thoroughfare for which he was bound,
he stopped and whistled softly. He stood in the entrance to a court; and
from further up the court came an answering whistle.

Kerry came out of the court again, and proceeded some twenty paces along
the street to a restaurant. The windows showed no light, but the door
remained open, and Kerry entered without hesitation, crossed a darkened
room and found himself in a passage where a man was seated in a little
apartment like that of a stage-door keeper. He stood up, on hearing
Kerry's tread, peering out at the newcomer.

"The restaurant is closed, sir."

"Tell