“Go on, Mac!� said Sir Richard sternly. “Do what I say. You and Simpson shall guard them over. Leave me alone with Fay and the girl. Shut the door when you go out.�
Fay watched the two baffled Scots lift the tin boxes, cram them under their arms and start down the hallway. The door slammed. MacKeenon, in passing, had kicked it with his foot.
Saidee Isaacs bobbed her hat and flashed a glance at the door. She turned and walked toward Sir Richard. She paused and stood in the center of the room. The
chief of the Criminal Investigation Division had dropped his chin on his breast in an attitude of profound abstraction.
Fay softly moved to the girl’s side. The two remained silent and thoughtful over the period of a long minute. They watched Sir Richard like quick-witted children. Their eyes, although different in color, contained the same steady stare.
“You were a fool,� suddenly said the chief without lifting his chin. “You blundered and blundered and blundered, Fay. You did everything wrong. And yet everything wrong came out all right in the end. I think I’ll have to both condemn and praise you.�
Saidee Isaacs took one quick step toward the table. Fay stopped her with a reaching arm. There was a quizzical smile on the cracksman’s face. He had read Sir Richard aright.
“I think—â€� started the chief of the investigation division, “I think that you are just a bad boy grown up.â€�
Sir Richard sat bolt upright. He leveled a steady finger across the polished surface of the table.
“You’re a fool in a fool’s paradise. You can’t move contrary to fifty million people, and get away with it. There is a place for such who break the laws—a house with a Thousand Doors! What have you got to say, Fay? Do you want to go back to Dartmoor—or do you square it?â€�