"And then you followed them down here—"
The chief accepted a cigarette.
"And even then it wasn't all plain sailing," he said. "I saw the lights go on upstairs, and thought it was going to be easy, went in through a French window on the ground floor — and found a man waiting for me. Duodecimo Gugliemi! You remember, the man who should have been deported the other day."
Cullis nodded.
"I got the order postponed. I was thinking the same thing as you about the men that Templar was always shaking off, and I wondered if someone who looked less like a detective might be able to do more."
"Instead of which," said the commissioner grimly, "he appears to have joined up with them. Anyway, there he was, loading a gun when I walked in. Fortunately I'd been very quiet about it, and he didn't hear me at first. His back was towards me, and I got quite close before something must have made him look round. The gun was in his hand, but he'd still got the magazine out and it wasn't much use to him. He let out a yell and heaved it at my head, but I ducked and caught him one behind the ear with the butt of mine. That settled him, but the alarm was raised. I sprinted out into the hall and saw a skirt whisking round the top of the stairs. Trelawney can't have had her gun on her at the moment, otherwise it might have been quite a different story. As it was, this door slammed just as I reached the landing, and I heard the lock turn as I went at it with my shoulder. Next minute a bullet came through a panel an inch from my ear, and I took cover. But I'd got them both in there together, which was a bit of luck, and the best thing I could do was to stand guard here and hope you'd get a train as soon as my telegram arrived."
"And what about Gugliemi?"
"He's still downstairs, unless he's woken up and sloped off. I've had to keep one eye on the stairs all the time in case he tried to shove in his oar again, but there hasn't been a sound. As a matter of fact, he's probably still dreaming. When I hit him, I hit him hard. Since you're here, I think you'd better go down and see if there's any sign of him before we do anything else. You brought a gun, of course?"
Cullis tapped his pocket.
"I shouldn't have come without one," he said and went down the stairs at once.