"I expect him home every minute, sir. Why, there he is, opening the street door just as we're talking of him. If you'll excuse me, sir, I'll run down to him." "Do. And ask him to be kind enough to come up and speak to me." She nodded, and ran from the room with a light step, leaving the handkerchief behind her in her haste to tell her husband that she had got a lodger; and presently Constable Pond's heavier step was heard on the stairs. His face beamed with satisfaction when Dick, stepping into the passage, invited him into the room. "Can I believe my eyes, sir!" he exclaimed. "This is what I call a downright piece of good luck. Well, I _am_ glad to see you here, sir!" His eyes fell upon the handkerchief in Dick's hand. "If I don't mistake, that's the handkerchief my missis left behind her. She asked me to fetch it down to her." "It is about this handkerchief I wish to speak to you," said Dick; "and for the sake of all parties, Constable Pond, it is as well that our conversation should be private and confidential." "Certainly, sir," said Constable Pond, his countenance falling at the unusual gravity of Dick's voice and manner. "She told me you picked it up in the street." "She told you true, sir." Now did Constable Pond feel the sting of conscience; now did it whisper that he had been guilty of a breach of duty in not depositing the handkerchief at the police station, with an account of how he came by it; now did the thought of certain penalties afflict him. Here was Dick Remington, Inspector Robson's own nephew, opening up a case with the unuttered words, "From information received." "I have a particular reason for wishing to know where, and when, and under what circumstances, you found it," said Dick. "It won't go beyond this room, I hope, sir. You won't use the information against me?" "I give you my word I will not." "I ought to have handed it in and made my report," said Constable Pond, with a rueful air, "but I didn't think there was any harm in my giving it to the missis. Applebee and me were in Catchpole Square last night, and he was talking of shadders when he thought he saw one. He run across and caught hold of it, but it slipped from him and was gone like a flash. He called to me and we ran after it through Deadman's Court; we couldn't see which way we were going, so we knocked our heads together, and my helmet fell off. I stooped to pick it up, and there was the handkerchief underneath it. If I had considered a moment I shouldn't have put it in my pocket, but we don't always do the thing we ought." "You did not tell Applebee that you had found anything?" "No, sir, I did not, and sorry enough I am for it now. It sha'n't occur again, I promise you." "As the matter has gone so far without anybody knowing anything about it but ourselves, I don't see the necessity of mentioning it to anyone." "If such is your wish, sir," said Constable Pond, gaining confidence, "it sha'n't be."