Lord Wrexborough
    Great Cumberland Place, V. 1
    “To introduce 719.  W.”

“God’s truth!” gasped Kerry.  “It’s the man from Whitehall!”

The stertorous breathing ceased, and a very dirty hand was thrust up to him.

“I’m glad you spoke, Chief Inspector Kerry,” drawled a vaguely familiar voice.  “I was just about to kick you in the back of the neck!”

Kerry dropped the wallet and grasped the proffered hand. “719” stood up, smiling grimly.  Footsteps were clattering on the stairs.  Coombes had heard the shot.

“Sir,” said Kerry, “if ever you need a testimonial to your efficiency at this game, my address is Sixty-seven Spenser Road, Brixton.  We’ve met before.”

“We have, Chief Inspector,” was the reply.  “We met at Kazmah’s, and later at a certain gambling den in Soho.”

The pseudo fireman dragged a big cigar-case from his hip-pocket.

“I’m known as Seton Pasha.  Can I offer you a cheroot?”

CHAPTER XXXI

THE STORY OF 719

In a top back room of the end house in the street which also boasted the residence of Sin Sin Wa, Seton Pasha and Chief Inspector Kerry sat one on either side of a dirty deal table.  Seton smoked and Kerry chewed.  A smoky oil-lamp burned upon the table, and two notebooks lay beside it.

“It is certainly odd,” Seton was saying, “that you failed to break my neck.  But I have made it a practice since taking up my residence here to wear a cap heavily padded.  I apprehend sandbags and pieces of loaded tubing.”

“The tube is not made,” declared Kerry, “which can do the job.  You’re harder to kill than a Chinese-Jew.”

“Your own escape is almost equally remarkable,” added Seton.  “I rarely miss at such short range.  But you had nearly broken my wrist with that kick.”

“I’m sorry,” said Kerry.  “You should always bang a door wide open suddenly before you enter into a suspected room.  Anybody standing behind usually stops it with his head.”

“I am indebted for the hint, Chief Inspector.  We all have something to learn.”

“Well, sir, we’ve laid our cards on the table, and you’ll admit we’ve both got a lot to learn before we see daylight.  I’ll be obliged if you’ll put me wise to your game.  I take it you began work on the very night of the murder?”

“I did.  By a pure accident—­the finding of an opiated cigarette in Mr. Gray’s rooms—­I perceived that the business which had led to my recall from the East was involved in the Bond Street mystery.  Frankly, Chief Inspector, I doubted at that time if it were possible for you and me to work together.  I decided to work alone.  A beard which I had worn in the East, for purposes of disguise, I shaved off; and because the skin was whiter where the hair had grown than elsewhere, I found it necessary after shaving to powder my face heavily.  This accounts for the description given to you of a man with a pale face.  Even now the coloring is irregular, as you may notice.