Inspector Flamborough closed his notebook and took his leave, followed by Sir Clinton. When they reached the street again and had got into the waiting car, the Chief Constable turned to his subordinate.
“You collected a lot of interesting information that time.”
“I noticed you left it all to me, sir; but I think I got one or two things worth having. It's a bit disconnected; and it'll take some thinking before it's straightened out.”
“What's your main inference, as things stand?” Sir Clinton inquired.
“Well, sir, it's a bit early yet. But I've been wondering about one thing, certainly.”
“And that is?”
“And that is whether Peeping Tom's name wasn't Thomasina,” Flamborough announced gravely.
“There are two sexes, of course,” Sir Clinton admitted with equal gravity. “And inquisitiveness is supposed to be more strongly developed in the female than in the male. The next thing will be to consider whether Mr. Justice shouldn't be rechristened Justitia. One ought to take all possibilities into account.”
Chapter VIII.
The Hassendean Journal
When Ronald Hassendean's journal was found to consist of four bulky volumes of manuscript, Sir Clinton hastily disclaimed any desire to make its acquaintance in extenso and passed over to Inspector Flamborough the task of ploughing through it in detail and selecting those passages which seemed to have direct bearing on the case. The Inspector took the diary home with him and spent a laborious evening, lightened at times by flashes of cynical enjoyment when the writer laid bare certain aspects of his soul. Next day Flamborough presented himself at Sir Clinton's office with the books under his arm; and the paper slips which he had used as markers made a formidable array as they projected from the edges of the volumes.