Taking a cursory glance at the room and its occupants, though there was probably nothing about any of them that escaped his eagle eyes, Mr. Perkins turned to the flushed housewife.
"What's the trouble, Mrs. Prior?" he asked in a deep, powerful voice.
With a torrent of words, the woman poured out her tale of outraged dignity.
Several times, Higgins, Jones and Dillaby sought to interrupt but a peremptory "wait until you're spoken to," accompanied by a savage scowl, from the barrister was sufficient to silence them and they subsided.
As the woman paused there was a hush while all eyes were focused upon the lawyer.
Conscious of the attention, Squire Perkins threw back his shoulders, gave a sharp tap with his cane and looking full at the detectives declared:
"Your great mistake, Mrs. Prior, was in allowing these men to enter your home in the first place. 'A man's house is his castle.' That always has been the law and I believe it still is, unless it's been changed since I left my office.
"These men had no business to search your house without a search warrant. And they know it as well as I do.
"You can recover damages from them and I believe that an action will lie against them for the shock and humiliation to which their high-handed goings-on have subjected you.