And that was a pleasurable sensation.

"I'll turn him inside out like an old glove," thought the Assistant Commissioner, with his eyes resting pensively upon Chief Inspector Heat.
"No, that was not my thought," he began again.

"There is no doubt about you knowing your business--no doubt at all; and that's precisely why I--" He stopped short, and changing his tone: "What could you bring up against Michaelis of a definite nature?
I mean apart from the fact that the two men under suspicion--you're certain there were two of them--came last from a railway station within three miles of the village where Michaelis is living now." "This by itself is enough for us to go upon, sir, with that sort of man," said the Chief Inspector, with returning composure.

The slight approving movement of the Assistant Commissioner's head went far to pacify the resentful astonishment of the renowned officer.

For Chief Inspector Heat was a kind man, an excellent husband, a devoted father; and the public and departmental confidence he enjoyed acting favourably upon an amiable nature, disposed him to feel friendly towards the successive Assistant Commissioners he had seen pass through that very room.