“Yes, I have underrated your intelligence. Well, good afternoon!”
“Stop! Where are you going?”
“To Scotland Yard.”
We had not got half-way to the door before she had overtaken us and was holding his arm. She had turned in a moment from steel to velvet.
“Come and sit down, gentlemen. Let us talk this matter over. I feel that I may be frank with you, Mr. Holmes. You have the feelings of a gentleman. How quick a woman’s instinct is to find it out. I will treat you as a friend.”
“I cannot promise to reciprocate, madame. I am not the law, but I represent justice so far as my feeble powers go. I am ready to listen, and then I will tell you how I will act.”
“No doubt it was foolish of me to threaten a brave man like yourself.”
“What was really foolish, madame, is that you have placed yourself in the power of a band of rascals who may blackmail or give you away.”
“No, no! I am not so simple. Since I have promised to be frank, I may say that no one, save Barney Stockdale and Susan, his wife, have the least idea who their employer is. As to them, well, it is not the first———” She smiled and nodded, with a charming coquettish intimacy.
“I see. You’ve tested them before.”
“They are good hounds who run silent.”
“Such hounds have a way sooner or later of biting the hands that feeds them. They will be arrested for this burglary. The police are already after them.”
