“Good Lord!” said the inspector, as the realisation of the thing crept into his mind. “That's a nasty trap to fall into. He's going to get his gruel, sure enough.”
They had reached the hotel, and Sir Clinton dispatched the constable to bring ropes, if any were available.
“You don't seem eager to get him out, sir,” the inspector ventured, as they were waiting.
“I don't know exactly what happened at Peter Hay's to-night,” Sir Clinton returned, “but I saw enough to know it was something uncommonly bad that they were trying to do to that girl, inspector. It must have been something worse than the normal way of putting the screw on a woman. Our friend in the Blowhole didn't mind doing that. And, somehow, that makes me feel a bit indolent when it comes to rescuing him. Let him go through it. Besides, the longer he's there—if we happen to get him out alive—the more his nerves will be shaken, and the easier it will be to wring some truth out of him. You can tackle him at once, before the effect wears off. And I shan't feel inclined to ask you to be moderate in your questioning this time. We must get all we can out of him while he's got the jumps. I've no doubt whatever that Billingford will turn King's evidence if he gets half a chance—he's that sort. But the other fellow was deeper in, and we may get more out of him if we can catch him at the right moment. So I'm not really in much of a hurry. This isn't a case where my humanitarian instincts are roused in the very slightest.”
He broke off, seeing Wendover coming out of the hotel.
“Everything fixed up comfortably, squire?” he asked.
Wendover nodded affirmatively; then, as Sir Clinton invited him to join them, he amplified his news.
“We got Mrs. Fleetwood down here quite comfortably; and she's upstairs now. Very shaken up, of course; but she's a plucky girl, and she hasn't had any bad collapse of her nerves so far, though one might have expected it.”
“I've a good mind to see her myself now,” Sir Clinton said thoughtfully. “Did she say anything about what they'd done to her?”
“No. But she asked me to send for Rafford immediately. I didn't like to worry her with questions.”