With that letter in her pocket Doris had suddenly grown wary. Hart and
Siddle would not mix, and her woman's intuition warned her that Siddle
had chosen the tea-hour purposely in order to have an uninterrupted
conversation with her. She disliked Mr. Siddle, in a negative way, but
the very nearness of the detective was stimulating. Let Mr. Siddle come,
then, and come alone!

"No, dad," she laughed. "Mr. Hart's knowledge will be available
to-morrow. In his presence, poor Mr. Siddle would be dumb."




CHAPTER XIII

CONCERNING THEODOEE SIDDLE


Winter, being a cheerful cynic, had not erred when he appealed to that
love of mystery which, especially if it is spiced with a hint of harmless
intrigue, is innate in every feminine heart. Indeed, he was so assured of
the success of his somewhat dramatic move that as he walked to a
rendezvous arranged with Superintendent Fowler on the Knoleworth road he
reviewed carefully certain arguments meant to secure Doris's assistance.

Passing The Hollies, he smiled at the notion that Furneaux would
undoubtedly have brought Grant to the conclave. It was just the sort of
difficult situation in which his colleague would have reveled. But the
Chief Inspector was more solid, more circumspect, even, singularly