“Wait a minute,” I broke in, as the outer door opened.  “Perhaps that’s Godfrey, now.”

And so it proved.  He came in accompanied by a man whom I knew to be Arthur Shearrow, chief counsel for the Record.

Godfrey nodded all around.

“I think you know Mr. Shearrow,” he said, placing on my desk a small leather bag he was carrying.  “This is Mr. Lester, Mr. Shearrow,” he added, and we shook hands.  “The object of this conference, Lester,” he concluded, “is to straighten out certain matters connected with the Michaelovitch diamonds—­and incidentally to give the Record the biggest scoop it has had for months.”

“I ain’t here to fix up no scoop for the Record”, broke in Grady.  “That paper never did treat me right.”

“It has treated you as well as you deserved,” retorted Godfrey.  “I’m going to talk plainly to you, Grady.  Your goose is cooked.  You can’t hold on for an hour after last night’s get-away becomes public.”

“We’ll see about that!” growled Grady, but the fight had evidently been taken out of him.

“I understand you wouldn’t let Simmonds telephone for me last night?” queried Godfrey.

“That’s right—­it wasn’t none of your business.”

“Perhaps not.  And yet, if I had been there, the cleverest thief in Paris, if not in the world, would be safe behind those chrome-nickle steel bars at the Twenty-third Street station, instead of at liberty to go ahead and rob somebody else.”

“You’re mighty cocksure,” retorted Grady.  “It’s easy to be wise after it’s all over.”

“Well, I’m not going to argue with you,” said Godfrey.  “I admit it was a good disguise, and a clever idea—­but, just the same, you ought to have seen through it.  That’s your business.”

Grady mopped his face.

“Oh, of course!” he sneered.  “I ought to have seen through it!  I ought to have suspected, even when I found you tryin’ to interview him; even when I got him off the boat myself; even when I went through his papers and found them all right—­yes, even to the photograph on his passport!  That’s plain enough now, ain’t it!  If people only had as good foresight as they have hindsight, how easy it would be!”

“Look here, Grady,” said Godfrey, more kindly, “I haven’t anything against you personally, and I admit that it was foolish of me to stand there talking to Crochard and never suspect who he was.  But that’s all beside the mark.  You’re at the head of the detective bureau, and you’re the man who is responsible for all this.  You’re energetic enough and all that; but you’re not fit for your job—­it’s too big for you, and you know it.  Take my advice, and go to the ’phone there and send in your resignation.”

Grady stared at him as though unable to believe his ears.

“’Phone in my resignation!” he echoed.  “What kind of a fool do you think I am?”

“I see you’re a bigger one than I thought you were!  Your pull can’t help you any longer, Grady.”