“Chester Fay!� she exclaimed.
The cracksman’s manner might have been Chesterfield’s as he swept the floor with his cap.
The little lady with the business-like revolver was Saidee Isaacs!
CHAPTER V
AT DAYBREAK
Chester Fay had the saving grace of lightning analysis. He had received the surprise of his life without showing it. The sweep of his plaid cap, as he bowed to Saidee Isaacs and straightened himself with lithe swiftness, had allowed him time to piece together a number of things.
He stared at her with a quizzical smile that illumined his keen features and disarmed suspicion. Sir Richard, old in the ways of the world, had managed the meeting. The presence of Dutch Gus was as yet to be explained. The events of the night, however, were closely woven together. Fay did not believe that chance or coincidence played the slightest part in the matter.
The long arm of luck had not caused him to enter the one house in all of London where Saidee Isaacs dwelt. Nor did the long arm of coincidence bring Dutch Gus to that part of Richmond Hill. The Yard, the girl, the cipher and the presence of the German crook were all one web, woven in a pattern.
“Well?� said Saidee Isaacs. “Well, Chester, when did you get out?�
Fay fingered his cap and stared directly into the girl’s brown eyes. They were soft but he had seen them flash livid fire on more than one occasion.
“When did I get out?� he repeated. “When did I? You ought to know!�