It was principally that he was out of place in his city clothes. One could have imagined him easily as some young athlete in the Olympic games, hurling the discus possibly, or flinging himself over the high jump. Or one might have suffered him in the clothes of summer in the country, soft rolling collar and roomy sport coat. But in the "business suit" of some department-store, he seemed like an actor some inept stage manager had dressed. Grotesquely, a police badge was pinned to the lapel of his coat. As he entered the box, Anna Janssen turned toward him with a swift outpouring of her eyes. It might have been interest, but it was warmer than interest. It might have been appeal, but it was more confident than appeal. "You are plain-clothes officer Thomas McCarthy?" the district attorney examined. "Yes, sir. Number eight thousand nine hundred and seventeen." "Attached to police headquarters?" "Yes, sir." "Tell us the circumstances under which you arrested the prisoner." "The Commissioner--the Commissioner--" McCarthy began, faltered, suddenly stopped. "Yes, the Commissioner." But McCarthy seemed struck by sudden panic. "Yes, yes!" the district attorney became irritable. "The Commissioner--" He rapped the table. Donegan rose. "McCarthy," he explained gently, "has had no one to talk to for seven years but my client. He finds it hard to get his words right. Take your time, McCarthy," he told the witness. "Close your eyes. Say it as if you were saying it to yourself." The prisoner threw him a look of gratitude. "I was on the vice squad under Inspector O'Gara." The witness found words at last. "One morning the Commissioner sends for me. It was when the trouble was on about the graft in the Raines-law hotels. The Commissioner looks at me kind of hard. "'Are you on the square, McCarthy?' he says. "'Yes, Commissioner, I 'm on the square,' I tells him. "'It's news to me they 's any one on the square,' the Commissioner laughs kind o' mean. "'Tell me, McCarthy, were you ever mixed up with a woman?' I gets chilled all over, because I thinks some one's trying to frame me. "'No, sir. Never,' I answers. "'Then why were n't you?' "'I don't know,' I says, 'except it was my people were from Ireland and brought me up their own way. When I was a kid, Commissioner, I could go to confession without holding out, and I guess I can do it to-day.' "'Oh, you 're one of them good Irish cops,' he sneers. 'I heard tell on them, but I never met one before.' "'Well, you meet him now.' I looks him cold in the eye. And then I 'm sorry, because I sees he means nothing. He 's just sore. "'Well, square cop,' he says, 'I got a job for you. Anna Janssen,' he says, 'is found. A rich guy hides her and brings her to Tahiti on his yacht. She's there now. The French authorities,' he says, 'have made a pinch. Go get her.' "'All right,' I says, and turns to go.