“I had time to drop in on your friend Ardsley, too, on my way home.” Wendover rose to the bait at once. “Oh, indeed! I hope he showed you his best specimens; a pithed frog, perhaps, or a mangled dog? It’s no good lifting these eyebrows of yours, Clinton. I don’t like the fellow.” “One could almost guess it from the way you talk. But bear in mind, Squire, that even the meanest of God’s creatures may have its uses. I’ve got a use for Ardsley,” he added carelessly, “so don’t go making things too unpleasant if you come across him any time.” Wendover gave a half-suppressed growl. “One rubs up against a lot of queer fish when one begins mixing with the police, it seems,” he complained, half in fun and half in earnest. Before Sir Clinton could reply, the bell of the telephone rang sharply. “Bet you nine to four that’s Whistlefield ringing up,” the Chief Constable offered. “Here, I’ll go myself.” He left the room and Wendover waited uneasily for the result of the conversation. It took a minute or two and he knew from this that it must be something relating to Whistlefield, for Sir Clinton had no friends in the neighbourhood. When the Chief Constable returned, Wendover looked up with a certain foreboding. News from Whistlefield of late had never been encouraging; and he feared that something more might have happened. “Did you take that bet?” inquired Sir Clinton. “If so, you owe me a note or two. It was Whistlefield at the other end of the line, just as I expected. If this goes on, we may as well tell the Exchange to leave their plug in our hole permanently and save bother to all hands.” “What’s happened now?” demanded Wendover anxiously. “An attempted murder this time. Your friend Ernest rang up to tell me about it. They’ve tried to get him next; but he fled like a lamb from the slaughter and seems to have saved his bacon. But he’s in a pitiable state,” Sir Clinton went on, a tingle of contempt coming into his tone. “Quite blue with funk, I should judge. He nearly wept into the mouthpiece, and I could hear him gasping for breath at the other end of the wire. Quite a shock to his nerves, it appears. We’ll have to go across and comfort him. Come along.” “You don’t seem much worried over his troubles,” Wendover commented. “I’ve no great use for a cowardly little beast. You should have heard him on the ’phone, Wendover. Sounded like one of those things they used to run in the Grand Guignol.” “Even the meanest of God’s creatures may have its uses,” Wendover quoted, sarcastically. Sir Clinton’s temporary cheerfulness seemed to have passed away. “That’s a true word spoken in jest, no doubt. You’re perhaps right after all. We may find a use for even friend Ernest before we’re done. But on the face of it, it doesn’t look probable, does it?”