You are a trifle severe upon me.

You may find, and before long, that I am your best friend." She laughed delightfully.
"Dear Mr.Pritchard," she exclaimed, "it is a strange thought, that! If only I dared hope that some day it might come true!" "More unlikely things, madam, are happening every hour," the detective remarked.

"The world--our little corner of it, at any rate--is full of anomalies.

There might even come a time to any one of us three when liberty was more dangerous than the prison cell itself." He nodded carelessly to Tavernake, and with a bow to Elizabeth turned and left the room.

Elizabeth remained as though turned to stone, looking after him as he descended the stairs.
"The man is a fool!" Tavernake cried, roughly.
Elizabeth shook her head and sighed.
"He is something far more ineffective," she said.