"How ungrateful you must think me, to suggest such a thing as that," she said with a reproachful smile. "Walk with me if you will be so kind. I hope you know that this is the third time you have rendered me a service since I had the pleasure of meeting you. It is very nice of you; and I am extremely grateful. I wonder you find the time or--well, take the trouble," rather archly; "a great man like you." "Shall I take off my hat and say 'thank you, ma'am'; or just the hackneyed 'Praise from Sir Hubert is praise indeed'?" he said with a laugh as he fell into step with her and they faced the mist and the distance together. "I suppose you are alluding to my success in the famous Stanhope Case--the newspapers made a great fuss over that, Mr. Narkom tells me. But--please. One big success doesn't make a 'great man' any more than one rosebush makes a garden." "Are you fishing for a compliment? Or is that really natural modesty? I had heard of your exploits and seen your name in the papers, oh, dozens of times before I first had the pleasure of meeting you; and since then ... No, I shan't flatter you by saying how many successes I have seen recorded to your credit in the past two years. Do you know that I have a natural predilection for such things? It may be morbid of me--is it?--but I have the strongest kind of a leaning toward the tales of Gaboriau; and I have always wanted to know a really great detective--like Lecocq, or Dupin. And that day at Ascot when Mr. Narkom told me that he would introduce me to the famous 'Man of the Forty Faces' ... Mr. Cleek, why do they call you 'the Man of the Forty Faces'? You always look the same to me." "Perhaps I shan't, when we come to the end of the heath and get into the public street, where there are lights and people," he said. "That I always look the same in your eyes, Miss Lorne, is because I have but one face for you, and that is my real one. Not many people see it, even among the men of The Yard whom I occasionally work with. You do, however; so does Mr. Narkom, occasionally. So did that boy, unfortunately. I had to show it when I came to your assistance, if only to assure you that you were in friendly hands and to prevent you taking fright and running off into the mist in a panic and losing yourself where even I might not be able to find you. That is why I told the boy to apply for work to 'Captain Burbage of Clarges Street.' _I_ am Captain Burbage, Miss Lorne. Nobody knows that but my good friend Mr. Narkom and, now, you." "I shall respect it, of course," she said. "I hope I need not assure you of that, Mr. Cleek." "You need assure me of nothing, Miss Lorne," he made reply. "I owe so much more to you than you are aware, that--Oh, well, it doesn't matter. You asked me a question a moment ago. If you want the answer to it--look here."