The Saint Closes the Case

admiration.

'You're a tough pair of wags,' he conceded.

'Professionally,' said the Saint, 'we play twice nightly to crowded houses, and never fail to bring them down. Which reminds me. May we do the same thing with our hands? I don't want you to feel nervous, but this position is rather tir­ing and so bad for the circulation. You can relieve us of our artillery first, if you like, in the approved style.'

'If you behave,' said Harding. 'Turn round.'

'With pleasure,' murmured the Saint. 'And thanks.'

Harding came up behind them and removed their guns. Then he backed away again.

'All right—but no funny business, mind!'

'We never indulge in funny business,' said Simon with dignity.

He reached for a cigarette from the box on the table and prepared to light it unhurriedly.

To all outward appearances he was completely unruffled, and had been so ever since Harding's arrival. But that was merely the pose which he habitually adopted when the storm was gathering most thickly; the Saint reserved his excitements for his spare time. He could always maintain that air of leisured nonchalance in any emergency, and other men before Harding had been perplexed and disconcerted by it. It was always the same— that languid affectation of indifference, and that genial flow of idle persiflage that smoked effortlessly off the mere surface of his mind without disturbing the concen­trated thought which it concealed.

The more serious anything was, the more extravagantly the Saint refused to treat it seriously. And thereby he was never without some subtle advantage over the man who had the drop on him; for Simon's bantering assurance was so per­fectly assumed that only an almost suicidally -self-confident opponent could have been left untroubled by a lurking un­easiness. Only a fool or a genius would have failed to jump to the conclusion that such a tranquil unconcern must base it­self on a high card somewhere up its frivolous sleeve. And very often the man who was neither a fool nor a genius was right.

But on this occasion the card up the sleeve was very ordi­nary. The Saint, inwardly revolving every aspect of the inter­ruption with a furious attention, could still find nothing new to add to his first estimate of the deal. Norman Kent re­mained the only hidden card.

By now, Norman Kent must know what had happened. Otherwise he would have been in the boat with them long ago, reaching down the ceiling while a youngster in plus eights whizzed his Webley. And if Norman Kent knew, Patricia would know. The question was—what would they be most likely to do? And how could Simon Templar, out of touch with them and practically powerless under the menace of Harding's automatic, divine their most probable plan of action and do something in collaboration?

That was the Saint's problem—to reverse the normal proc­esses of strategy and put himself in the place of the friend instead of in the place of the enemy. And, meanwhile, to keep Harding amused. ...

'You're a clever child,' said the Saint. 'May one inquire how you come to be doing Teal's job?'

'We work in with the police on a case like this,' said Hard­ing grimly, 'but we don't mind stealing a march on them if we can. Teal and I set out on an independent tour. He. took the high road and I took the low road, and I seem to have got there before him. I saw your car outside on the drive, and came right in.'

'You should have a medal,' said Simon composedly. 'I'm afraid I can't give you anything but love, baby, but I'll write to the War Office about you, if you think that might help.'

Harding grinned and smoothed his crisp hair.

'I like your nerve,' he said.

'I like yours,' reciprocated the Saint. 'I can see you're a good man gone wrong. You ought to have been of Us. There's a place in the gang vacant for you, if you'd care to join. Per­haps you'd like to be my halo?'

'So you are the Saint!' crisped Harding alertly.

Simon lowered his eyelids, and his lips twitched.

'Touche! ... Of course, you didn't know that definitely, did you? But you tumbled to the allusion pretty smartly. You're a bright spark, sonny boy—I'll tell the cockeyed world.'

'It wasn't so difficult. Teal's told everyone that he'd eat his hat if Vargan didn't turn out to be your show. He said he knew your work too well to make any mistake about it, even if it wasn't signed as usual.'

Simon nodded.

'I wonder which hat Teal would have eaten?' he mur­mured. 'The silk one he wears when he goes to night- clubs disguised as a gentleman or the bowler with the beer-stain? Or has he got a third hat? If he has, I've never seen it. It's a fas­cinating thought. . . .'

And the Saint turned his eyes to the ceiling as if he really were fascinated by the thought.

But the Saint thought: 'If Bertie and Teal have been putting their heads together, Bertie must know that there's likely to be a third man on the premises. A man already proved handy with the battleaxe, moreover. . . . Now, why hasn't Bertie said anything about him? Can it be that Bertie, our bright and bouncing Bertie, is having a moment of mental aberration and overlooking Norman?'

Then the Saint said aloud: 'However—about that halo job. How does it appeal to you?'

'Sorry, old man.'

'Oh, not at all,' sighed the Saint. 'Don't apologise. . . . What else can we do for you? You seem to have everything your own way, so we'll try to oblige. Name your horse.'

'Yes, I seem to have rounded you up fairly easily.'

So the cunningly hidden question was answered. It was true. Norman Kent, being for the moment out of sight, had fallen for the moment out of mind.

For a fleeting second the Saint met Roger Conway's eyes.

Then:

'What do we do?' asked the Saint amiably. 'Stand and de­liver?'

The youngster retired to the window and glanced out. Simon took one step towards him, stealthily, but there was an awkward distance between them, and Harding's eyes were only turned away for an instant. Then Harding turned round again, and the Saint was serenely selecting another cigarette.

'Have you got Vargan here?'

The Saint looked up.

'Ah!' said the Saint cautiously.

Harding set his lips.

In the few minutes of their encounter Simon Templar had had time to appreciate in the younger man a quiet efficiency that belied the first impression of youthfulness, combined with a pleasant sense of humour that was after the Saint's own heart. And at that moment the sense of humour was not so evident; but all the efficiency was there, and with it went a certain grimness of resolution.

'I don't know why you took Vargan,' he said. 'In spite of what we know about your ideas generally, that's still a mystery we haven't solved. Who are you working for?'

'Our own sweet selves,' answered the Saint. 'You see, our lawn's been going all to hell, and none of the weed-killers we've tried seem to do it any good, so we thought perhaps Vargan's electric exterminator might ——'

'Seriously!'

Simon looked at him.

'Seriously, if you want to know,' said the Saint, and he said it very seriously, 'we took Vargan so that his invention should not be used in the war. And that decision of ours still stands.'

'That was Teal's theory.'

'Dear old Teal! The man's a marvel, isn't he? Just like a blinkin' detective in a story-book. . . . Yes, that's why we took Vargan. Teal will get a letter from me in the morning explaining ourselves at length.'

'Something about the good of humanity, I suppose?'

'Correct,' said the Saint. 'Thereby snookering Angel Face, who certainly isn't thinking about the good of humanity.'

Harding looked puzzled.

'This man you keep talking about—Angel Face——'

'Tiny Tim,' explained Simon.

A light of understanding dawned upon the other.