Just as he doubled the corner he saw the stranger turn his head and then walk on rapidly.
If the stranger had noticed Hellier at first and the distance he was off, he must have noticed now that the distance was strangely decreased, in other words that Hellier had run after him and was in pursuit.
When the stranger reached the High Street a motor-omnibus was just passing. He jumped on board, and the omnibus pursued its way.
Hellier hailed the omnibus, but the conductor was not looking and it pursued its course. There was not a cab to be seen. If there had been, of what use could he have made of it? He had no warrant of arrest in his pocket. He had done mischief, if anything, for the stranger most probably had recognized the fact of the pursuit.
This last was a bitter thought, for, in Hellier’s mind, lay the firm conviction that the stranger was Klein.
He had seen the photograph of Klein. It was a face that once seen could not easily be forgotten. The likeness, at all events, was strong enough to have acted on.
It is true, he had no warrant of arrest in his pocket; well, what of that?
He told himself now that he should have acted instantaneously regardless of all consequences, pursued the stranger at full speed, called upon him to stop, raised the hue and cry, accused him of theft, even, done anything to get him safely into a police cell, whilst the Yard was being rung up and the central authorities communicated with.
Of course, if the man had turned out to be not Klein, but some one else, he, Hellier, would have found himself in a very serious position.
What of that? The future of the woman he loved was involved. She would have forgiven him, and what did he care for all the rest of the world, for the sneers of the papers, the chaffing of his brother barristers, the fines or imprisonment that might have followed?