was considered one of the finest detectives of his day.”

“Oh, well, I suppose there must be something in it, then. What a rotten world it is, though!”

“You find it so?” I asked.

“Good Lord, yes! There’s this terrible business to start with. Scotland Yard men in and out of the house like a jack-in-the-box! Never know where they won’t turn up next. Screaming headlines in every paper in the country—damn all journalists, I say! Do you know there was a whole crowd staring in at the lodge gates this

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