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He knew that, man of the world though Francis Ledsam appeared, he was nevertheless a highly imaginative person, something of an idealist as regards women, unwilling as a rule to discuss them, keeping them, in a general way, outside his daily life. "Go ahead, old fellow," he invited. "You know I understand."
Her lips, although in no way highly coloured, were like streaks of scarlet blossom upon a marble image. The contrast between her appearance and that of her companion was curiously marked. Francis Ledsam conformed in no way to the accepted physical type of his profession. He was over six feet in height, broad-shouldered and powerfully made.
In that half light, there is no telling what success I may not achieve." Sir Timothy sighed. "Alas!" he said, "before dinner is over you will probably have changed your mind." "Perhaps so," she admitted, "but you must remember that Mr. Ledsam is my only alternative, and I am not at all sure that he likes me. I am not sufficiently Victorian for his taste." The dressing-bell rang.
"Lady Cynthia's reminder is perhaps a little unfortunate," Sir Timothy observed. "Mr. Ledsam is no longer the last hope of the enterprising criminal. He has turned over a new leaf. To secure the services of his silver tongue, you have to lay at his feet no longer the bags of gold from your ill-gotten gains but the white flower of the blameless life."
"I shall be in my rooms in the Temple to-morrow morning, any time after eleven." "It is necessary for me to speak to you now," she insisted. "There is a tea-shop across the way. Please accompany me there." Ledsam, a little surprised at the coolness of her request, subjected his accoster to a closer scrutiny. As he did so, his irritation diminished. He shrugged his shoulders slightly.
It seemed to him that the effort made her less beautiful. "Your pleading was very wonderful, Mr. Ledsam," she said, a very subtle note of mockery faintly apparent in her tone. "We poor mortals find it difficult to understand that with you all that show of passionate earnestness is merely what did you call it? a chapter in your day's work?
I see that even in his overcoat our friend is swimmer enough to reach the bank. You find our methods harsh, Ledsam?" he asked, turning a challenging gaze towards the latter. Francis, who had been watching Shopland come to the surface, shrugged his shoulders. He delayed answering for a moment while he watched the detective, disdaining the life-belt, swim to the opposite shore.
It is a great gift to be able to argue from the brain and plead as though from the heart." "We will not detain Mr. Ledsam," Oliver Hilditch interposed, a little hastily. "He perhaps does not care to be addressed in public by a client who still carries with him the atmosphere of the prison. My wife and I wondered, Mr. Ledsam, whether you would be good enough to dine with us one night.
Sidney Voss, who was up for the Sheridan Club and had once been there, glanced respectfully across at Francis. "You ought to know something about crime and criminals, Mr. Ledsam," he said. "Have you any theory about the affair?" Francis set down the glass from which he had been drinking, and, folding up the evening paper, laid it by the side of him.
"You will find a friend over there, Ledsam," he said. Wilmore turned around and faced them. The two men exchanged somewhat surprised greetings. "No idea that I was coming until this afternoon," Wilmore explained. "I got my card at five o'clock, with a note from Sir Timothy's secretary. I am racking my brains to imagine what it can mean." "We're all a little addled," Francis confessed.
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