“I mean what I say.”
He paused and then his manner changed. “I am really sorry for this, Mr. Anstruther.”
“Sorry for what?”
“Of course, I have seen that I was not wanted, but the fact is I myself am being watched. I am compelled to keep with you for an hour or so.”
“You suggested just now that you came because I had asked you,” I rapped back.
“Well, you did ask me, didn’t you? And you put it so naturally that I really thought you were in earnest.”
“I wasn’t. I don’t wish to be seen by our friends to-day in the company of so well known a police agent as yourself.”
“Let us see then how we can manage it? The simplest way will be for me to drop behind. The friends won’t know we are together, and my superiors will see I am obeying orders.”
“But I don’t wish to be shadowed either.”
He spread out his hands with an air of bewilderment. “For the sake of the Fraternity I must not lose my position in the Police. You see that?”