“Sir,” replied the other, “there are many facts one cannot swear to—yet they are facts. Instinct requires no affirmation, and some instinct tells me that not only is Gyde guiltless of the murder of Klein, but that Klein is the murderer of Gyde. “The face of the man Müller, which is incontestably the face of the man Klein, speaks to me in the old and long-written language of human expression. It is a terrible face and full of evil, full of logic, and subtlety and craft. It is the face of a mathematician, yet the face of a satyr. It is cold as ice. “The face in the retinal picture is filled with fire, the fire of the infernal regions. I construct from the two pictures a personality rare in the annals of crime. A criminal genius, actuated by more than ordinary motives, using extraordinary precautions, inventing new ways. The extraordinary folly of the ordinary criminal is nowhere to be found in the mass of evidence before us. Even the cleverest criminal we know of is clever only intermittently; his work is not, as a rule, a masterpiece, thought out to the very last detail, if it is it is planned on old-fashioned lines. “I can say this of the Gyde case, that in my humble opinion it is a flawless piece of criminal work carried out on entirely new-fashioned lines. The work of a genius, and we must treat it as such. I have said that I believe Klein is the active agent and is alive here in London possibly. Well, I entreat you not to search for him in the ordinary way, not to send his photograph to the papers. I could almost say not to circulate his photograph amidst the force. Don’t search for him.” “Why?” “Because you will not find him. A man like that is not to be taken by ordinary methods. Our one chance is to leave him lulled in security and under the impression that Gyde is being pursued. Were he to see his photograph in the papers, were he to imagine his photograph was in circulation amongst the police, he would....” “Yes?” “Vanish, become some one else, or, at all events, his genius would not nod in fancied security, but keep wide awake and watchful.” “I will give you forty-eight hours, Freyberger,” said the chief, “forty-eight hours to tackle this man in your own way; use all your powers, do what you will. If, at the end of that time, you do not bring me Klein or reasonable evidence that you are close on his track, I will search for him in the ordinary way. I will drag London with a drag-net.” “Forty-eight hours,” said Freyberger, “and only sixty minutes to every hour; well, I can but try.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XX FREYBERGER was now virtually in charge of the case.