, you'd better charge him now."

He had passed out of the door, and his footsteps were dying away when
Ike awoke to the fact that his attempt at bluff had failed. He raised
his voice. "Hi! Mr. Foyle! Don't go yet. I'll cough up what I know. Come
back."

CHAPTER XXVII

A grim smile flickered under Chief Inspector Green's grey moustache as
Heldon Foyle stepped briskly back into the room and closed the door. Ike
met a stare of the superintendent's cold blue eyes squarely.

"You've got the bulge on me this time, guv'nor," he admitted ruefully.
"I give you best. You're welcome to all I know--though that isn't much."

Now that he was near attaining his end, Foyle had to steer a delicate
course. The law very rightly insists that there shall be neither threat
nor promise held out to any person who is accused of a crime. From the
moment a police officer has made up his mind to arrest a man, he must
not directly or indirectly induce a person to say anything that might
prove his guilt--and a warning of the possible consequences is insisted
upon even when a statement is volunteered. Otherwise admissions or
evidence so obtained are ignored, and there is trouble for the police
officer who obtained them. That is one of the reasons why detective work
in England demands perhaps nicer skill than in most other countries.

Green had pulled a fountain pen from his pocket and adjusted a couple of
sheets of official foolscap. Foyle remained standing.

"Don't let's have any misunderstanding," he said. "We're not making any
promises except that the court will know you helped us in another case.
If you choose to keep quiet we can't do a thing to you."

"I know all about that," said Ike, with a little shrug of his
shoulders. "You know I wouldn't squeal in an ordinary job. I'm no Dutch
Freddy to give my pals away. I don't owe the chap anything who put me up
to this. What do you want first?"

"Tell us all about it your own way. Where did you get the keys of the
house?"

"Off that chap you raked in along of me. I was sitting in a little game
of faro at a joint in the Commercial Road about a week ago, when this
tough pulls me out and puts it up to me. I didn't much like it, but the
chink who runs the show told me he was straight, and he offered me
half----"

"You told Freddy you were only getting a third," interposed Green.

"Did I?" Ike grinned cunningly. "It must have been a slip of the tongue.
Anyway, I said I'd chip in for h