Dismissal was in the tone. Saul Hartz had no punctilio with the men he employed, no matter how eminent they might be in their own sphere. Even if he did not parade the fact that he was the most important person in the western hemisphere, he liked it clearly to be understood in all matters of domestic administration that his whim was law. Bennet Gage was frankly distressed. His regard for the Chief was akin to idolatry, but this was a matter on which he felt bound to hold his ground. It was due to them both that he should do so. But it was far from the habit of the Colossus to take advice and the knowledge of this fact often embarrassed those who had to deal with him. “Must we go into this matter at once?” The question was more tentative than was warranted by Mr. Gage’s state of mind, but to come out into the open would be fatal. “The sooner the better. Marshal all the facts. We have to take a strong line here.” “But the ‘murder’ of William Garland.” Such a nudity of phrase was altogether too much for Bennet Gage. “Even if our information justifies that and even if it is the finding of the Coroner’s jury--and one can’t believe for a moment that it will be--is it right?--is it in the public interest to run counter to the police?” “Is it in the public interest to cover up their incompetence? that is the question we have to ask ourselves.” Mr. Gage shook a deferential head. “Not so much their incompetence, it seems to me, as their limitations.” “A distinction without a difference, my friend.” “With all respect, I don’t agree. There is reason to believe that they know more than we do. And they have come to the conclusion that they are powerless.” “A conclusion wholly puerile and discreditable.” “Upon that I offer no opinion. But you remember what Verity said on his return from Tokyo?” “Yes; and you remember what I said to Verity?” “I do. But if I may say so, in this business Verity is the man on the spot. And he is most anxious that we should accept guidance in the matter.” Saul Hartz laughed harshly. “The sooner daylight is let into the whole thing, the better--that’s my view.” The look of trouble deepened in the editor’s face. “May I ask you not to forget that the police are up against the stiffest proposition they have ever had to tackle?” “Why have you turned devil’s advocate, Gage?” Saul Hartz’s tone was sharply impatient. “On public grounds,” was the reluctant answer. “Why, you are as bad as those old women in Whitehall.” “But look what has happened within a year. Three clear cases. One in Tokyo, one in New York, and now one in London. In each case a warning, a disregard of the warning, followed in one instance by a mysterious disappearance, and in the other two by an even more mysterious death.” “Well, no matter what Scotland Yard may say or what it may do, we, at any rate, shall not allow ourselves to be frightened by any kind of fee faw fum.”