Sir John snorted indignantly; but Inspector Wensdale nodded his head slowly and regretfully.
"Anyway, I owe you five hundred pounds," said Sir John to Malcolm
Sage; "and, dammit! it's worth it," he added.
Malcolm Sage shrugged his shoulders as he rose to go.
"I was sorry to have to hit him," he said regretfully, "but I was afraid of that knife. A man can do a lot of damage with a thing like that. That's why I told you not to let your men attempt to take him, Wensdale."
"How did you know what sort of knife it was?" asked the inspector.
"Oh! I motored down here, and the car broke down. Incidentally I made a lot of acquaintances, including Callice's patrol-leader, a bright lad. He told me a lot of things about Callice and his ways. A remarkable product the boy scout," he added. "Kipling calls him 'the friend of all the world.'"
Sir John looked across at Inspector Wensdale, who was strongly tempted to wink.
"Don't think too harshly of Callice," said Malcolm Sage as he shook hands with Sir John. "It might easily have been you or I, had we been a little purer in mind and thought."
And with that he passed out of the room with Inspector Wensdale followed by Sir John Hackblock, who was endeavouring to interpret the exact meaning of the remark.
"They said he was a clever devil," he muttered as he returned to the library after seeing his guests off, "and, dammit! they were right."