n had entered. The Inspector turned to follow him. Penelope
remained as she had been standing, the hand which had touched the bell
fallen to her side, her eyes fixed upon him with a new light stirring
their quiet depths.

"One moment, Morton," she said. "Wait outside. Mr. Jacks," she added, as
the door closed, "what do you mean? What can I have told you? How can I
have helped you?"

The Inspector stood very still for a brief space of time, very still and
very silent. His face, too, was quite expressionless. Yet his tone, when
he spoke, seemed to have taken to itself a note of sternness.

"If you had chosen," he said slowly, "to have become my ally in this
matter, to have ranged yourself altogether on the side of the law, my
answer would have been ready enough. What you have told me, however, you
have told me against your will and not in actual words. You have told
me in such a way, too," he added, "that it is impossible for me to doubt
your intention to mislead me. I am forced to conclude that we stand
on opposite sides of the way. I shall not trouble you any more, Miss
Morse."

He turned to the door. Penelope remained motionless for several moments,
listening to his retreating footsteps.

CHAPTER X. MR. COULSON OUTMATCHED

Mr. James B. Coulson settled down to live what was, to all appearance,
a very inoffensive and ordinary life. He rose a little earlier than was
customary for an Englishman of business of his own standing, but he made
up for this by a somewhat prolonged visit to the barber, a breakfast
which bespoke an unimpaired digestion, and a cigar of more than ordinary
length over his newspaper. At about eleven o'clock he went down to the
city, and returned sometimes to luncheon, sometimes at varying hours,
never later, however, than four or five o'clock. From that time until
seven, he was generally to be found in the American bar, meeting old
friends or making new ones.

On the sixth day of his stay at the Savoy Hotel the waiter who looked
after the bar smoking room accosted him as he entered at his usual time,
a little after half past four.

"There's a gentleman here, Mr. Coulson, been asking after you," he
announced. "I told him that you generally came in about this time.
You'll find him sitting over there."

Mr. Coulson glanced in the direction indicated. It was Mr. Jacks who
awaited him in the cushioned easy chair. For a single moment, perhaps,
his lips tightened and the light of battle flashed