"AN UNEXPECTED MEETING."
"Francis Hain?" stammered Mallow, amazed. "Impossible! You must be mistaken. You have never seen Francis Hain!"
Vraik rubbed his hands and leered.
"That's as true as true," he croaked; "but if I ain't seen 'im other people 'ave. When you told me as 'ow you thought as all this business was mixed up with the murder, I went and saw the landlord, and all them tradespeople in and about Athelstane Place. From the description I got of Hain, I know 'im as well as I know my own partner. I follered that Major cove all these days till I'm fair worn out; and when I saw him talkin' to a light-'aired man with a beard as long as yer arm, it didn't take me long to recognize Hain. I tried to sneak up close and listen but they got their matter done, and parted afore I could hear a word.
"Where did you see them?"
"In Poplar Street."
"And when they parted, you followed one of them--which?"
"That Major cove, of course--didn't you tell me to keep an eye on 'im?"
Mallow was annoyed.
"I wanted you to use your own discretion," he said. "You should have tracked down Hain, and handed him over to the police."