f Sowerby, and smiled with native amiability at the
dangerous-looking Stringer.

"Excuthe me," he said, and his propitiatory smile was expansive and
dazzling, "excuthe me buttin' in like thith. It theemth rude, I know--it
doth theem rude; but the fact of the matter ith I'm a tailor--thath's
my pithneth, a tailor. When I thay a tailor, I really mean a
breecheth-maker--tha'th what I mean, a breecheth-maker. Now thethe
timeth ith very hard timeth for breecheth-makerth."...

Dunbar finished his whisky, and quietly replaced the glass upon the
table, looking from Sowerby to Stringer with unmistakable significance.
Stringer emptied his glass of rum, and Sowerby disposed of his stout.

"I got thith letter lath night," continued the breeches-maker, bending
forward confidentially over the table. (The document looked at least
twelve months old.) "I got thith letter latht night with thethe three
fiverth in it; and not havin' no friendth in London--I'm an American
thitithen, by birth,--Levinthky, my name ith--Abraham Levinthky--I'm a
Noo Englander. Well, not havin' no friendth in London, and theein' you
three gentlemen thittin' here, I took the liberty"...

Dunbar stood up, glared at Levinsky, and stalked out of the
billiard-room, followed by his equally indignant satellites. Having
gained the outer door:

"Of all the blasted impudence!" he said, turning to Sowerby and
Stringer; but there was a glint of merriment in the fierce eyes. "Can
you beat that? Did you tumble to his game?"

Sowerby stared at Stringer, and Stringer stared at Sowerby.

"Except," began the latter in a voice hushed with amazement, "that he's
got the coolest cheek of any mortal being I ever met."...

Dunbar's grim face relaxed, and he laughed boyishly, his square
shoulders shaking.

"He was leading up to the confidence trick!" he said, between laughs.
"Damn it all, man, it was the old confidence trick! The idea of a
confidence-merchant spreading out his wares before three C. I. D. men!"

He was choking with laughter again; and now, Sowerby and Stringer having
looked at one another for a moment, the surprised pair joined him in
his merriment. They turned up their collars and went out into the rain,
still laughing.

"That man," said Sowerby, as they walked across to the stopping place
of the electric trains, "is capable of calling on the Commissioner and
asking him to 'find the lady'!"

XXI

THE STUDIO IN SOHO

Certainly, such impudence as