in his face. Then
he crossed the room apparently himself again,--an undistinguished,
perfectly natural figure.

"It's Mr. Jacks, isn't it?" he asked, holding out his hand. "I thought I
recognized you."

The Inspector rose to his feet.

"I am sorry to trouble you again, Mr. Coulson," he said, "but if you
could spare me just a minute or two, I should be very much obliged."

Mr. Coulson laughed pleasantly.

"You can have all you want of me from now till midnight," he declared.
"My business doesn't take very long, and I can only see the people I
want to see in the middle of the day. After that, I don't mind telling
you that I find time hangs a bit on my hands. Try one of these," he
added, producing a cigar case.

The Inspector thanked him and helped himself. Mr. Coulson summoned the
waiter.

"Highball for me," he directed. "What's yours, Mr. Jacks?"

"Thank you very much," the Inspector said. "I will take a little Scotch
whiskey and soda."

The two men sat down. The corner was a retired one, and there was no one
within earshot.

"Say, are you still on this Hamilton Fynes business?" Mr. Coulson asked.

"Partly," the Inspector replied.

"You know, I'm not making reflections," Mr. Coulson said, sticking
his cigar in a corner of his mouth and leaning back in a comfortable
attitude, "but it does seem to me that you are none too rapid on this
side in clearing up these matters. Why, a little affair of that sort
wouldn't take the police twenty minutes in New York. We have a big
city, full of alien quarters, full of hiding places, and chock full of
criminals, but our police catch em, all the same. There's no one going
to commit murder in the streets of New York without finding himself in
the Tombs before he's a week older. No offence, Mr. Jacks."

"I am not taking any, Mr. Coulson," the Inspector answered. "I must
admit that there's a great deal of truth in what you say. It is rather
a reflection upon us that we have not as yet even made an arrest, but I
think you will also admit that the circumstances of those murders were
exceedingly curious."

Mr. Coulson knocked the ash from his cigar.

"Well, as to that," he said, "and if we are to judge only by what we
read in the papers, they are curious, without a doubt. But I am not
supposing for one moment that you fellows at Scotland Yard don't know
more than you've let on to the newspapers. You keep your discoveries out
of the Press over here, and a good job, too, bu