"Don't apologize, and don't trouble yourself!" she said suavely. "But you're a bit off it, all the same. Those are some paste things which Mr. Rayner got together for me in case it came to being obliged to exhibit some to the crooks. You don't think, really, that I was going to run any risks with the genuine articles? Sakes--they're all right! They're deposited, snug and safe, at my bankers, and if you'll get a cab, we'll drive there and get them!" CHAPTER XXXIV MERRIFIELD EXPLAINS Late that afternoon Marshall Allerdyke and Fullaway, responding to an urgent telephone call, went to New Scotland Yard, and were presently ushered into the presence of the great man who had been so much in evidence that day. The great man was as self-possessed, as suave, and as calmly cheerful as ever. And on the desk in front of him he had two small and neatly made up parcels, tied and sealed in obviously official fashion. "So we seem to have come to the end of this affair, gentlemen," he observed as he waved his visitors to chairs on either side of him. "Except, of course, for the unpleasant consequences which must necessarily result to the men we caught to-day. However, there will be no consequences--of that sort--for one of them. Schmall has--escaped us!" "Got away!" exclaimed Fullaway. "Great Scott you don't mean that!" "Schmall committed suicide this afternoon," replied the chief calmly. "Clever man--in his own line, which was a very bad line. He was searched most narrowly and carefully, so I've come to the conclusion that he carried some of his subtle poison in his mouth--the hollow tooth dodge, no doubt. Anyway, he's dead--they found him dead in his cell. It's a pity--for he richly deserved hanging. At least, according to Merrifield." "Ah!" said Fullaway, with a start. "According to Merrifield, eh? Now what may that mean? To find Merrifield in this at all was, of course, a regular shock to me!" "Merrifield--just the type of man who would!--has made a clean breast of the whole thing," answered the chief. "He made it to me--an hour ago. He thought it best. He wants--naturally enough--to save his neck." "Will he?" growled Allerdyke. "A lot of necks ought to crack, after all this!" "Can't say--we mustn't prejudge the case," said the chief. "But that's his desire of course. He would tell me everything--at once. I had it all taken down. But I remember every scrap of it. You want to hear? Well there's a good deal of it, but I can epitomize it. You'll find that you were much to blame, Mr. Fullaway--just as that smart young woman, your secretary, was candid enough to tell you." "Oh, I know--I know!" asserted Fullaway. "But--this confession?"