. Up to now these had been curt and to the point,
and as they followed one another in quick succession there was a
marked difference in the attitude both of the questioner and the
questioned. The police officer had started by being perfectly
deferential--just like a man accustomed to speak with people whose
position in the world compelled a certain regard. He had originally
addressed Luke as "sir," just as he had invariably said "my lord" to
Lord Radclyffe, but now he spoke much more curtly. There was a note of
demand in every question which he put, a peremptoriness of manner
which did not escape the observation of his interlocutor.

As the one man became more aggressive so did Luke also change his
manner. There had been affable courtesy in his first reply to the
questions put to him, a desire to be of help if help was needed, but
with his senses attuned by anxiety and nerve strain to distinguish
subtle difference of manner and of intention, he was quick enough to
notice that he himself was as it were in a witness box, with a counsel
ready enough to bully, or to trip up any contradictory statement.

Not that Luke realized the reason of this change. The thought that he
could be suspected of a crime was as far removed from his ken as the
desire to visit the moon. He could not understand the officer's
attitude; it puzzled him, and put him on his guard--but it was just
the instinct of self-preservation, of caution, which comes to men who
have had to fight the world, and who have met enemies where they least
expected to find one.

"Do you remember," now resumed Travers after that slight pause, which
had seemed very long to Luke, but as a matter of fact had only lasted
a short minute, "whether you saw Mr. Philip de Mountford speaking with
any one when you left him in the lobby of the club?"

"I told you," said Luke impatiently, "that he was alone, except for
the hall porter."

"Alone in the whole club house?"

"Alone," reiterated Luke with measured emphasis, "in the lobby of the
Veterans' Club."

"How many rooms has the club?"

"I don't know; it was the first time I had ever been there."

"Did you know any of the staff?"

"No--since I had never been there before."

"You were not known to any member of the staff?"

"Not that I know of."

"You were shown into the club rooms without being known there at all?"

"The Veterans' Club is a new one, and its rules apparently are not
very strict. I asked if Mr. de Moun