telephone less than a quarter of an hour ago."

"Not from here, sir."

"But I say it _was_ from here!" shouted Dunbar fiercely; "and I told
him to wait for me."

"Very good, sir. Shall I make inquiries?"

"Yes. Wait a minute. Is the Commissioner here?"

"Yes, sir, I believe so. At least I have not seen him go."

"Find Sergeant Sowerby and tell him to wait here for me," snapped
Dunbar.

He walked out into the bare corridor and along to the room of the
Assistant Commissioner. Knocking upon the door, he opened it
immediately, and entered an apartment which afforded a striking
contrast to his own. For whereas the room of Inspector Dunbar was
practically unfurnished, that of his superior was so filled with
tables, cupboards, desks, bureaux, files, telephones, bookshelves
and stacks of documents that one only discovered the Assistant
Commissioner sunk deep in a padded armchair and a cloud of tobacco
smoke by dint of close scrutiny. The Assistant Commissioner was small,
sallow and satanic. His black moustache was very black and his eyes
were of so dark a brown as to appear black also. When he smiled he
revealed a row of very large white teeth, and his smile was correctly
Mephistophelean. He smoked a hundred and twenty Egyptian cigarettes
per diem, and the first and second fingers of either hand were