ou saw outside
the hotel Clancy would actually have begun to believe that he might be
mistaken."

"At any rate," said Curtis, smiling, "you two seem to have made
marvelous progress with the inquiry since a set of drunken stokers
broke up a harmonious gathering at Morris Siegelman's."

"We have done pretty well, but this"--and Steingall glanced at
Lamotte--"this goes far beyond anything we hoped for to-night, or this
morning, for the new day is growing old."

Curtis was puzzled. He realized that the capture of the chauffeur was
important, but it shrank into insignificance beside the connected
history of events which the detective seemed to have at his fingers'
ends.

"I suppose I must not ask questions," he said with a quizzical look
into the extraordinary eyes which had earned the chief of the Detective
Bureau the picturesque description coined by an enthusiastic reporter.

"No need," said Steingall. "Unless you are fed up with excitement, I
purpose taking you and Mr. Devar down town again, just as soon as Evans
has stopped slinging ink. Then you will appreciate the importance of
the things said here."

Curtis remembered that fleeting impression he had garnered while
watching Clancy during the Frenchman's statement, which, however,
appeared only to confirm the ample history already in Steingall's
possession. But again his thoughts were diverted from the matter by
Steingall's next words.

"I take it you have not called at the Plaza Hotel since we came away
together?" he said. "You certainly could not stop there during the
rush after the missing chauffeur, and I suppose McCulloch brought you
straight here after the arrest?"

"Yes. We passed the hotel on the outward journey, and I thought I saw
a light in--in my wife's suite, but we returned by a different route."

He fancied that the detective was about to explain a somewhat peculiar
question, but at that instant the police captain summoned Lamotte to
his desk.

"I'll read what I have written," he said, "and, if it is correct, you
will sign it. You need not sign unless you wish, but the statement
will be given in court, and, if you attest it now, may count in your
favor."

He recited an exact record of the Frenchman's words, and Lamotte took
the pen and scrawled his name. Then, at a nod from Evans, the
roundsman took the prisoner to a cell.

"By Jove! George, or perhaps I ought to say 'By George, Jove!' you did
that well," exclaimed Clancy, speak