The Inspector stood very still for a brief space of time, very
still and very silent. His face, too, was quite expressionless.
Yet his tone, when he spoke, seemed to have taken to itself a
note of sternness.

"If you had chosen," he said slowly, "to have become my ally in
this matter, to have ranged yourself altogether on the side of
the law, my answer would have been ready enough. What you have
told me, however, you have told me against your will and not in
actual words. You have told me in such a way, too," he added,
"that it is impossible for me to doubt your intention to mislead
me. I am forced to conclude that we stand on opposite sides of
the way. I shall not trouble you any more, Miss Morse."

He turned to the door. Penelope remained motionless for several
moments, listening to his retreating footsteps.



CHAPTER X. MR. COULSON OUTMATCHED

Mr. James B. Coulson settled down to live what was, to all
appearance, a very inoffensive and ordinary life. He rose a
little earlier than was customary for an Englishman of business
of his own standing, but he made up for this by a somewhat
prolonged visit to the barber, a breakfast which bespoke an
unimpaired digestion, and a cigar of more than ordinary length
over his newspaper. At about eleven o'clock he went down to the
city, and returned sometimes to luncheon, sometimes at varying