"Saint," said Teal, "I told you you were a bright boy."
"So did Auntie Ethel," said the Saint.
2
Simon Templar, refreshed by a good night's sleep, set out for the Ritz at 9.30 next morning.
He had not been kept up late the night before. Teal, gathering himself back into the old pose of mountainous sleepiness out of which he had so nearly allowed himself to be disturbed, had gone very quietly. In fact, Simon had been sound asleep three quarters of an hour after the detective's return visit.
Teal hadn't a leg to stand on. True, the Saint had behaved very curiously; but there is no law against men behaving curiously. The Saint had lied; but lying is not in itself a criminal offense. It is not even a misdemeanour for a man to arrange a dummy in a chair in such a way that a realistic silhouette is thrown upon a blind. And there is no statute to prevent a man claiming a Lithuanian princess for an aunt, provided he does not do it with intent to defraud… So Teal had gone home.
Suspicion is not evidence — that is a fundamental principle of English law. The law deals in fact; and a thousand suspicious circumstances do not make a fact.
No one had seen the Princess Selina von Rupprecht. No one could even prove that her real name was Jill Trelawney. Therefore no charge could ever be substantiated against Simon Templar for that night's work. And Teal was wise enough to know when he was wasting his time. There was a twinkle in the Saint's eye that discouraged bluff.
"And yet, boys and girls," murmured Simon to himself, the next morning, as he went down the stairs, "Claud Eustace Teal is reputed to have a long memory. And last night's entertainment ought to make that memory stretch from here to the next blue moon. No, I don't think we're going to find life quite so easy as it was once."
The house was watched, of course. As he turned out into the street, he observed, without appearing to observe, the two men who stood immersed in conversation on the opposite pavement; and as he walked on he knew, without looking round, that one of the men followed him.