Similar message, eh? And what--"

"Hush!" whispered Appleyard. "Miss Slade's coming out of the tea-house!
And who's the man that's with her?"

All five men glanced covertly over their shoulders at the open door of
the tea-house, some twenty to thirty yards away. Down its steps came Miss
Slade, accompanied by a man whom none of them had ever seen before--a
well-built, light-complexioned, fair-haired man, certainly not an
Englishman, but very evidently of Teutonic extraction, who was talking
volubly to his companion and making free use of his hands to point or
illustrate his conversation. And when he saw this man, the chief turned
quickly to Allerdyke and intercepted a look which Allerdyke was about to
give him--the same thought occurred to both. Here was the man described
by the hotel-keeper of Eastbourne Terrace and the shabby establishment
away in the Docks!

"Miss Slade!" exclaimed Fullaway. "What on earth are you talking about?
That's my secretary, Mrs. Mar--"

"Sh!" interrupted the chief. "That's one of your surprises, Mr. Fullaway!
Quiet, now, quiet. Our job is to watch. Something'll happen in a minute."

Miss Slade and her talkative companion edged their way through the crowd
and passed out to an open patch of grass whereon a few children were
playing. And as they went, two or three men also separated themselves
from the idlers around the tables and strolled quietly and casually in
the same direction. Also, Van Koon and the man with him left their table,
and, as if they had no object in life but mere aimless chatter and
saunter, wandered away towards the couple who had first emerged from the