deftly
slipped a pair of handcuffs upon the man's wrists.

It may have been Milburgh's overweening faith in his own genius. It may
have been, and probably was, a consciousness that he had covered his
trail too well to be detected. One or other of these causes had kept him
up, but now he collapsed. To Tarling it was amazing that the man had
maintained this show of bravado to the last, though in his heart he knew
that the Crown had a very poor case against Milburgh if the charge of
embezzlement and arson were proceeded with. It was on the murder alone
that a conviction could be secured; and this Milburgh evidently realised,
for he made no attempt in the remarkable statement which followed to do
more than hint that he had been guilty of robbing the firm. He sat
huddled up in his chair, his manacled hands clasped on the table before
him, and then with a jerk sat upright.

"If you'll take off these things, gentlemen," he said, jangling the
connecting chain of the handcuffs, "I will tell you something which may
set your mind at rest on the question of Thornton Lyne's death."

Whiteside looked at his superior questioningly, and Tarling nodded. A few
seconds later the handcuffs had been removed, and Mr. Milburgh was
soothing his chafed wrists.

The psychologist who attempted to analyse the condition of mind in which
Tarling found himself would be faced with a difficult task. He had come
to the flat beside himself with anxiety at the disappearance of Odette
Rider. He had intended dashing into his rooms and out again, though what
he intended doing thereafter he had no idea. The knowledge that Ling Chu
was on the track of the kidnapper had served as an opiate to his jagged
nerves; otherwise he could not have stayed and listened to the statement
Milburgh was preparing to make.

Now and again it came back to him, like a twinge of pain, that Odette
Rider was in danger; and he wanted to have done with this business, to
bundle Milburgh into a prison cell, and devote the whole of his energies
to tracing her. Such a twinge came to him now as he watched the stout
figure at the table.

"Before you start," he said, "tell me this: What information did you give
to Ling Chu which led him to leave you?"

"I told him about Miss Rider," said Milburgh, "and I advanced a
theory--it was only a theory--as to what had happened to her."

"I see," said Tarling. "Now tell your story and tell it quickly, my
friend, and try to keep to the truth.