“In the ordinary course of your duty you frequently pass along this street?”
“It’s the limit of the Limehouse beat, sir. Poplar patrols on the other side.”
“So that at this point, or hereabout, you would sometimes meet the constable on the next beat?”
“Well, sir,” Bryce hesitated, clearing his throat, “this street isn’t properly in his district.”
“I didn’t say it was!” snapped Kerry, glaring fiercely at the embarrassed constable. “I said you would sometimes meet him here.”
“Yes, sometimes.”
“Sometimes. Right. Did you ever come in here?”
The constable ventured a swift glance at the savage red face, and:
“Yes, sir, now and then,” he confessed. “Just for a warm on a cold night, maybe.”
“Allee velly welcome,” murmured Sin Sin Wa.