'I'm sorry,' said the Saint regretfully.
'What for?'
Teal's voice was a hoarse bark.
Simon smiled.
'Because I spent all the morning in Anford.'
'What were you doing there?'
'I was at an inquest.'
'Whose inquest?'
'Some poor blighter by the name of John Kennet.'
'Do you mean the foreign secretary's son—the man who was killed in that country-house fire?' Teal asked sharply.
Simon regarded him benevolently.
'How you do keep up with the news, Claud,' he murmured admiringly. 'Sometimes I feel quite hopeful about you. It's not often, but it's so cheering when it happens. A kind of warm glow comes over me——'
'What were you doing at that inquest?' Teal said torridly.
The Saint moved his hands.
'Giving evidence. I was the hero of the proceedings, so I got nicely chewed up by the coroner for a reward. You'll read all about it in the evening papers. I hate to disappoint you, dear old weasel, but I'm afraid I've been pretty well in the public eye since about half-past ten.'
Simon struck his lighter and made the delayed kindling of his cigarette.
'So what with one thing and another, Claud,' he said, 'I'm afraid you're going to have to let me go.'
Chief Inspector Teal barred his way. The leaden bitterness of defeat was curdling in his stomach, but there was a sultry smoulder in his eyes that was more relentless and dangerous than his first unimpeded blaze of wrath. He might have suffered ten thousand failures, but he had never given up. And now there was a grim lourd determination in him that tightened his teeth crushingly on his battered scrap of spearmint.
'You still haven't told me what you're doing here,' he said stolidly.
Simon Templar trickled smoke through momentarily sober lips.
'I came to see Windlay,' he said. 'I wanted to see him before somebody else did. Only I was too late. You can believe that or not as you like. But the late John Kennet shared this place with him.'
The detective's eyes went curiously opaque. He stood with a wooden stillness.
'What was the verdict at this inquest?'
'Accidental death.'
'Do you think there was anything wrong with that?'
Simon's glance travelled again over the disordered room.
'Someone seems to have been looking for something,' he said aimlessly. 'I wonder if he found what he was after?'
Casually, as if performing some quite idle action, he leaned forward and picked
