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Updated: July 15, 2025
Shopland will agree with me," he continued, turning courteously towards the detective, "that disappearances of this sort are not nearly so uncommon as the uninitiated would believe. For one that is reported in the papers, there are half-a-dozen which are not. Your late Chief Commissioner, by-the-bye," he added meditatively, "once a very intimate friend of mine, was my informant."
"Sir Timothy Brast to see you, sir," he announced. The moment was one of trial to every one, admirably borne. Shopland remained in his chair, with only a casual glance at the newcomer. Francis rose to his feet with a half-stifled expression of anger at the clumsiness of his clerk.
My little outburst must have sounded almost ridiculous to you two. To tell you the truth, I quite failed at that time to give Mr. Ledsam credit for gifts which I have since discovered him to possess." "Mr. Shopland and I are now discussing another matter," Francis went on, pushing a box of cigarettes towards Sir Timothy, who was leaning against the table in an easy attitude.
"That being so," Francis continued, "I am going to make a proposition to you for what it is worth. Where were you going when I met you this morning, Shopland?" "To call upon you in Clarges Street, sir." "What for?" "I was going to ask you if you would be so kind as to call upon Miss Daisy Hyslop, sir." Francis smiled. "Great minds," he murmured.
Upstairs or down, the cellars and the lofts, the grounds and the park, the whole of my domain is for you from midnight on Thursday until four o'clock. What do you say, Mr. Shopland? Does my offer satisfy you?" The detective hesitated. "I should prefer an invitation for myself," he declared bluntly. Sir Timothy shook his head. "Alas, my dear Mr. Shopland," he regretted, "that is impossible!
Shopland and the policeman placed their hands underneath the armpits of the unconscious man. "He's done, sir," the former whispered to Francis. "We'll try and get him to the station if we can." The greatest tragedies in the world, provided they happen to other people, have singularly little effect upon the externals of our own lives.
Can we have a word together?" "Certainly," was the ready reply. "You remember my friend Shopland, Sir Timothy? It was Mr. Shopland who arrested young Fairfax that night at Soto's." "I remember him perfectly," Sir Timothy declared. "I fancied, directly I entered, that your face was familiar," he added, turning to Shopland. "I am rather ashamed of myself about that night.
His mouth, however, was hard, and there were some tell-tale little lines at its corners. "None whatever, I am sorry to say, Mr. Ledsam," he admitted. "At present we are quite in the dark." "You found the weapon, I hear?" Shopland nodded. "It was just an ordinary service revolver, dating from the time of the war, exactly like a hundred thousand others.
"We do not necessarily acquaint the press with our procedure," Shopland rejoined. "Nevertheless," Sir Timothy continued, "I have known awkward consequences arise from a search warrant too rashly applied for or granted. However, we are scarcely being polite. So far, Miss Hyslop has had very little to say." The young lady was not altogether at her ease.
"I will see the young lady this afternoon, Shopland." The detective raised his hat. They had reached the spot where his companion turned off by the Horse Guards Parade. "I may hope to hear from you, then, sir?" "Within the course of a day or two, perhaps earlier," Francis promised. Francis continued his walk along the Embankment to his chambers in the Temple.
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