Collins. Then, in a burst of drunken
unconcern,--"And if you want to turn your back on me too, why, you and
Tom may do so!"

"Not at all, not at all!" Fanwell hastened to assure him. "I'm glad to
know you. Won't you join us in a drink?"

The invitation seemed to mollify Collins. He smiled foolishly and
dropped into a chair. But the cold shrugs, the averted faces which he
had met all afternoon still preyed on his mind, and, under the stimulus
of a fresh drink, he opened the floodgates of his wrath.

"They're a lot of spineless jellyfish in this town," he drawled. "They
all believe I killed Whitmore. Well, I'm not saying whether I did or
not. But suppose I did kill him? Ain't a man got the right to defend his
home? What's this country coming to when a viper can sneak into another
man's house and steal his wife? The papers say that I went around
threatening to kill him. Well, I did. And I meant it, too. Why, that
yellow cur was sending letters to my wife urging her to leave me. What
do you think of that?"

Fanwell and Cooper shook their heads gravely, as if in sympathy with
him.

"He dishonored my home!" Collins exclaimed with added vehemence. "He
stole my wife--he tried to steal her," he corrected with a sly grin.
"And that thieving brother of hers was in sympathy with him! Ever heard
of anything like that before? A brother approving the liaison between
'em? And now Ward's bank has busted and I'm ruined! Fine state of
affairs--what?"

Collins looked musingly out of the window. He was in a talkative mood,
yet Fanwell dared not prompt him into further revelations. To manage a
drunken man, or one half-drunk, requires exceptional tact. Once his
suspicions are aroused, it is impossible to allay them.

Even now it was evident to the detective that Collins wasn't talking as
freely as he pretended to be. He still retained a sufficient amount of
caution not to plunge into the details of the murder itself. What he
said of his wife's relations with Whitmore was simply a repetition of
statements he had made at the club and elsewhere before Whitmore's
death. Plenty of witnesses could be obtained who would testify to having
heard Collins threaten to kill the merchant. But whether he had actually
carried out his threat remained to be proved.

Fanwell was aware that at Police Headquarters opinion as to Collins's
guilt was divided. Britz did not believe him guilty, Greig seemed
hopelessly befuddled by the conflicting evidence,