It was sorry, sorry meddling.

It would leave Michaelis unscathed; it would drag to light the Professor's home industry; disorganise the whole system of supervision; make no end of a row in the papers, which, from that point of view, appeared to him by a sudden illumination as invariably written by fools for the reading of imbeciles.

Mentally he agreed with the words Mr Verloc let fall at last in answer to his last remark.
"Perhaps not.

But it will upset many things.

I have been a straight man, and I shall keep straight in this--" "If they let you," said the Chief Inspector cynically.