"Why, there must be some mistake!" cried Mainwaring. "I'll just go off and see the chief constable, he's a particular friend of mine."
When he had gone, the faces of my guardians grew visibly longer; one of them fetched me an armchair out of the office.
The chief constable soon put matters right.
"This gentleman is staying at the Magnifique," he announced, "he is well known to Dr. Mainwaring, and, in fact, the doctor will answer for his appearance; what more do you want, Mr. Inspector?"
The inspector wanted nothing more.
Within five minutes I was sitting by a glorious fire in a private room at the Magnifique, discussing the whole matter with the chief constable and Dr. Mainwaring.
But before I left the station, I put a query to Inspector Bull, junior.
"What have you done about the old lady?" I asked.
The officer assumed some shreds of dignity, even in his discomfiture.
"You may have thought us a bit forgetful, sir," he observed, "but I assure you, both the railway stations have been under careful observation from the time of my being able to touch a telephone."