Bit by bit things were coming out, he said to himself as he strolled away towards the hotel; link after link the chain was being forged.

But around whom, in the end, was it going to be fastened?
It was the first time in his life that he had ever been brought face to face with crime, and the seeking out of the criminal was beginning to fascinate him.
"Egad, it's a queer business!" he muttered.

"A thread here, a thread there!--Heaven knows what it'll all come to.

But this Chettle's a good 'un--he's like to do things." Chettle joined him in the smoking-room of the hotel at a quarter to seven, and immediately produced a telegram.
"Came half an hour ago," he said as they sat down in a corner.

"Nobody but myself seen it up to now.