"

"Good. I'll take it at once and be off."

The grounds of the Donard tennis club are pleasantly situated about a
mile outside the town on the Ballymoy road. Meldon reached them well
before the time he had arranged, passing through the gate at a quarter
past two o'clock. The annual tennis tournament was in full swing. All
three courts were occupied by players, and an eager crowd of spectators
stood round watching the progress of the matches. Simpkins was perched
on top of a step ladder, acting as umpire for two ladies. His position
rendered him very conspicuous, and Meldon caught sight of him at once.
He took a short cut through a court where a mixed double was in
progress and seized Simpkins by the leg.

"Simpkins," he said, "get off that ladder at once."

Simpkins was surprised. So were the two ladies who were playing
tennis. They stopped their game and stared at Meldon. Then they
glanced at Simpkins with puzzled suspicion. Men, as every one is
aware, even men with reputations for respectability, are sometimes
arrested suddenly in the most unlikely places for crimes of which no
one ever suspected them. It is true that they are very rarely arrested
by clergymen, but it is on record of the most famous of all detectives
that he once assumed the dress of a clergyman as a disguise. The lady
who was serving when Meldon interrupted the game had read the history
of that detective's life. She looked at Simpkins with awed horror.
Simpkins wriggled uncomfortably on his ladder. He was conscious of
being placed in a very unpleasant position, and was anxious, if
possible, to divert the attention of the ladies.

"Forty-fifteen," he said loudly, but erroneously, for the score was
thirty all. Then he turned to Meldon and added in a whisper: "Go away
at once, please."

He hoped that the ladies would go on with their game. They did not.
He had given their score wrongly, and they became more suspicious than
ever. Nor did Meldon stir.

"Come down off that ladder at once," said Meldon. "I don't want to
make a very unpleasant affair public property; but if you don't come
down, I'll speak out, and there's a small crowd gathering round us."

This was true. The lady who had been serving dropped the two balls she
held in her hand and sidled up towards the step ladder. A number of
people, who had been watching an exciting match in the next court, left
it, and approached Meldon to find out what was going on. Simpkin