Cleek: the Man of the Forty Faces

bed out the mental wrinkles and brought a sense of restfulness and peace. It could not well do otherwise wit

mewhere in the darkness a nightingale shook out the scale of Nature's Anthem to the listening Night,

ricides to exist in, and for the sons

way to the arbour where Dollops

ag. "Wot's it now, Gov'nor?-the railway station? Good enough

urself,

ke to walk at your heels all the rest of my blessed life. Did I carry

er. "You'll do, Dollops-you'll do finely. I think I did a good job

might. I don't want nothin' but wot I earns, Gov'nor; nothin' but wot I've got a right to have; for when I sees wot wantin' m

ns of God as that monster and ... No matter. Thank God, I've been able to do something to-night for a good woman-I owe so much to another of her kind. No; don't speak-just walk quietly and"-je

so oddly. One minute, a very brute-beast in his ferocity, the next, a woman in his tenderness and a poet in his thoughts. But if the boy was puzzled, he

days were over and done with, his memory harked back to those things which had to do with his own affairs, and he caught himself wondering how matters had gone with Ailsa Lorne; which of the

possibility of giving himself that small pleasure-so often indulged in-of adopting a safe disguise, prowling about the

ct of abhorrence-a thing to be put out of her life as completely and as expeditiously as possible-he fully realised; yet, at bottom, he was conscious of a hope that Ti

oul is purged all in a moment, no man may conquer himself with just one solitary fight. He needed her forgiveness, the thought of her, the hope of her, to rivet his armour for the long, brave fight. He needed her Friendship-if he might never have her love he needed

through Mr. Narkom-he did not quite realise until he g

of the ferocity which comes when the half-tamed wolf wakes to the realisation that here is nothing before it evermore, but the bars of the cage and t

able, and scooped up in his hands some trifles of faded ribbon and trinkets of gold-things that he treasured, none knew why

he held her all the higher because she did scorn him; because her life was such that she could scorn him; and the bitterness droppe

o bed. And between the time when he got down on his knees to fish out his bath-slippers from beneath the bed-stead and the creak o

for The Yard hampered his movements and claimed his time. He was free; he was back in the Town-beautiful because it cont

he must come out and return during the times when he was obliged to go off guard and get his meal-for he could not bring himself to play the part of the spy or the common policeman, and filch news from the servants-but when a week had gone by in this manner, he set all question upo

in Clarges Street as "Captain Horatio Burbage," became a regular visitor to the neighbour

d to inquire her whereabouts; and she would guess who had done it. He would not have her feel that he was thrusting himself upon her, inquiring about her as one might inquire abou

and had just set his face in the direction of the heath when he was brought to a standstill by the sound of someone calling out sharply: "Burbage-I say, Cap

ne, and he knew that cha

verick

breast of him-had, in fact, come to a

ennard?" he as

here to look for you. Hop in qui

, stepped in, shut it after him, and sat dow

and pelted off westward at a pace that brushed the very fringes of the speed limit. "I made certain I should find you at home. Fairly floored w

quietly. "Bright, fai

the young beggar

these days. But, never mind that at present. It is fair to suppose, from your

t an hour and a half ago. Not an affair for The Yard this time, Cleek, but a thing you mus

hy

n Margot. You know what she swore, what she wrote when you sent her that letter telling her that you were done with her and her lot, and w

ers. Our knowledge of each other began when we started to 'pal' together-it ended when we split

some trap of hers to decoy you over t

e sewers on. I know it as well as I know London, as well as I know Berlin-New York-Vienna-Edinburgh-Rome. You

olice, Scotland Yard," read

GUISHED

reader of riddles and unmasker of evil-doers who, in the past year, has made the police department of England the envy of all nations; and it shall happen also that I who dare not appeal to the police of France appeal to the mercy, the humanity, of this great man, as it is my only hope. Monsieur, you have his ear, you have his confidence, you have the means at your command. Ah! ask him, p

ignature," said Narkom, laying down the