THE WHODUNIT COLLECTION: British Murder Mysteries (15 Novels in One Volume). Charles Norris Williamson

raved helplessly. Weir Menzies sat on the end of the bed and waited imperturbably. Jimmie did not pick and choose his words.

      "Bad language won't help," said Menzies, once again the stern moralist. "Make up your mind quick; I can't wait here all day."

      Hallett suppressed the vitriolic retort that rose to his lips. He was in no position to justify violent language. "Say, this is a joke, isn't it?" he asked.

      "I don't joke," retorted the inspector grimly.

      "Look here," said Jimmie with inspiration, "you own that you're doing an illegal thing. Now I'll tell you what I'll do. Unfasten these things and run away for five minutes and when you come back you can search all you want to. There'll be ten thousand dollars in it for you too." Ten thousand dollars, he reflected, was a small price to pay for the preservation of the secret he held.

      Menzies' ruddy face had taken on a deeper tinge of crimson. "You're wanting to bribe me," he said thickly.

      "That's a nasty word," said Jimmie. "Illegal searchings are not your duty and how can it be bribery if all I ask you to do is to keep within the limits of your right. Come. I'm a fairly rich man and I'll make it fifteen thousand."

      A brawny fist was shaken within an inch or two of his eyes. Menzies had for the moment let himself go and was shaken with anger. "You dirty reptile," he blazed and then suddenly checked himself. "The C. I. D. aren't grafters," he went on more mildly. "If you'd been in London longer you'd have known that. It isn't fair, Mr. Hallett "he shook his head reprovingly "it isn't fair."

      Jimmie observed him with some astonishment. He did not know the scale of pay of English detectives, but he imagined that fifteen thousand dollars would have removed most scruples. "Don't get in a tear about it," he said. "For a man who plays the game like this--" he glanced at the handcuffs "I don't see what you've got to complain of if you get insulted. You're not a police officer now, remember. You're a common or garden burglar."

      Menzies had resumed his placid equanimity. It was difficult to reconcile the placidity with which he was now enveloped to the resentment that had shaken him a moment before. "I suppose I am," he remarked.

      "That is if you won't give me the permission I asked for a while ago."

      "I'll see you burn first," retorted Jimmie.

      "Then I must go on with it," said Menzies, and quietly began to possess himself of the scattered articles of attire that littered the floor.

      He went through the pockets methodically, laying the articles in an orderly heap on a chair one by one as he examined them. Jimmie saw him pause over a scrap of paper on which Peggy had scribbled her address. "Does your friend the lady who isn't Mrs. Ling live at Shadwell?" he asked. "That's a bit of a change from Palace Avenue, isn't it? I'll use your telephone a second, if you don't mind."

      "Make yourself at home," said Hallett. "Don't mind me."

      The detective lifted the receiver. "Give me a line. ... City 400.... Is that the Yard?... I want Royal or Congreve if they're there. Yes, Mr. Menzies speaking. Hello, is that you, Congreve?... Oh, gone out, is he?... Anything fresh, Royal?"

      The man at the other end of the wire seemed to Jimmie to be intolerably loquacious. A grin slowly stole over Menzies' set features. "That's darned funny," he commented at last. "So you've got it from two ends. Curiously enough I've just run across the same address here that's what I rang up about. I'm in Mr. Hallett's rooms at the Palatial. He's very annoyed with me, Royal.... Eh?... No, they'd better not do anything unless they spot Ling. Keep close observation on anyone in or out. You'd better come on here."

      He turned to Hallett and tapped the paper in his hand. "If this is all you're upset about, Mr. Hallett, you needn't blame yourself or me. This address has cropped up at the Yard from two other sources. Some of our men are breathing the salubrious air of Shadwell at this minute. If I hadn't been in a hurry to see you I'd have known it half an hour or more ago. Promise me you'll sit quiet and wait without interference while I finish off and I'll unhook you."

      "I don't take back anything I've said," declared Jimmie, "but I'll promise that. I'd like to admire your methods in something more solid than pyjamas and that's a fact. Do you mind if I order breakfast?"

      Menzies smiled as he shook his head. You'll not starve if you wait ten minutes till Royal comes. I'm not going to take any chances of you sending a warning, directly or indirectly. Not that it would do any good if you managed to slip anything through. A mouse couldn't get in or out of Levoine Street now."

      It was a palpable hit. Hallett had hoped that the entrance of a servant might give him an opportunity to convey something to Peggy. His face fell as the other exploded the plan. He stretched himself as Menzies unlocked the handcuffs.

      "Yes, I guess I can hold out that long. I wish you'd forget your profession sometimes, Menzies. I'd hate to have to suspect a man of evil because he wants his breakfast. Say, if it's not giving away secrets, how did Scotland Yard get on to the address?"

      Menzies postponed his rummaging for the moment. "There's no secret about it," he said. "It was only a question of how long a well-dressed girl, obviously of the superior classes, could live in a slum without attracting notice especially when she's being looked for by the police. A report that she had been located by our Shadwell people was received this morning. Then again you remember that note she sent calling you over to Brixton?"

      "Well!" said Jimmie.

      "That was handed over to an expert for more detailed examination than we were able to give it ourselves. Royal hasn't told me anything but the result, though I can guess how it was done. Very few inks are chemically alike. The expert must have applied tests which brought out the fact that certain words in that note had been written in a different ink from the others. You follow me? The inference would be irresistible and a properly skilled photographer would be able to bring out the underlying words. All automatic, Mr. Hallett we were just bound to find her."

      "I suppose you were," said Hallett, absently enveloping himself in a big dressing-gown.

      The chief inspector picked the revolver from a heap of belongings he had abstracted from the young man's pockets and weighed it carelessly in his hand while he scrutinised the young man from under his half-shut eyelids. "I may have been doing you both an injustice," he confessed. "I'll own I can't make out why she wanted you at Shadwell and how it came about that the note got altered by someone apparently without her knowledge."

      "Can't you," said Jimmie indifferently. He began to appreciate the point which was being led up to.

      "Now," went on Menzies mildly, "I know you've jour own notions as to which side of the fence you'd prefer to be, but it's certain you've got some inside knowledge. You're wise enough to know what will most likely be happening in a few hours. Why not give me the right end of the thing? No one need ever know it came from you and I'll do my best to keep things pleasant. I only want to get at the truth. Nothing can stop that. But you can make it come a bit quicker if you like. Of course I don't believe she's the sort of girl who'd be in it bad."

      An involuntary laugh broke from Jimmie, though he was feeling very far from merriment. "Trying a new tack," he said. "Why, I thought you'd loaded the lady up with all the crimes in the calendar. Still, I'm glad to see some glimmerings of common sense and I'll reward you. She's perfectly innocent of anything rather the other way about. Now if you go running yourself into trouble don't say I didn't warn you. Because if you do involve her I'll get the biggest lawyer that money can buy to raise particular hell for your benefit."

      "Ah?" Menzies caught his breath. "So you fixed the thing last night. She's told you the whole story or you wouldn't be so cocksure. Do you know what the penalty is for an accessory after the fact in a case of murder?"

      Watching acutely he caught the slightest change of countenance in the young man. It was gone instantly. "I've half a mind to take you in on that charge and let you try that lawyer for yourself," he pursued.

      "And make yourself the laughing-stock of the country," countered the other. "Why, you haven't a shred of evidence that could justify it and