"You see, Senator, I may have to arrest you, and I never eat with any man with whom I may clash professionally." "You take risks, Mr. Clancy." "I love 'em. I'd cut my job to-day if it wasn't for the occasional excitement." The valet appeared. "Coffee and rolls for two, Phillips," said Meiklejohn. He turned to Clancy. "Perhaps you would prefer toast and an egg?" "I have breakfasted already, Senator," smiled the detective, "but I may dally with the coffee." When the door was closed on Phillips, his master glanced at a clock on the mantelpiece. The hour was eight-fifteen. Some days elapsed before Clancy interpreted that incident correctly. "You rose early," said the Senator. "Yes, but worms are coy this morning." "Meaning that you still await answers to your questions. I'll deal with you fully and frankly, but I'm curious to know on what conceivable ground you could arrest me for the murder of my friend Ronald Tower." "As an accessory before the act." "But, consider. You have brains, Mr. Clancy. I am glad the Bureau sent such a man. How can a bit of unthinking generosity on my part be construed as participation in a crime?" "If you explain matters, Senator, the absurdity of the notion may become clear." "Ah, that's better. Let me assure you that my coffee will not affect your fine sensibilities. Miss Rachel Craik is a lady I have known nearly all my life. I have assisted her, within my means. She resides in East One Hundred and Twelfth Street, and the man about whom she was so concerned last night is her brother. He committed some technical offense years ago, and has always been a ne'er-do-well. To please his sister, and for no other reason, I undertook to provide him with five hundred dollars, and thus enable him to start life anew. I have never met the man. I would not recognize him if I saw him. I believe he is a desperate character; his maniacal behavior last night seems to leave no room for doubt in that respect. Don't you see, Mr. Clancy, that it was I, and not poor Tower, whom he meant attacking? But for idle chance, it is my corpse, not Tower's, that would now be floating in the Hudson. You heard what Tower said. I did not. I assume, however, that some allusion was made to the money--which, by the way, is still in my pocketbook--and Tower scoffed at the notion that he had come there to hand over five hundred dollars. There you have the whole story, in so far as I can tell it." "For the present, Senator." "How?" "It should yield many more chapters. Is that all you're going to say? For instance, did you call on Rachel Craik after leaving Eighty-sixth Street?" Meiklejohn's jaws closed like a steel trap. He almost lost his temper. "No," he said, seemingly conquering the desire to blaze into anger at this gadfly of a detective. "Sure?" "I said 'no.' That is not 'yes.' I was so overcome by Tower's miserable fate that I dismissed my car and walked home. I could not face any one, least of all Helen--Mrs. Tower."