The Riddle of the Frozen Flame

f papers upon his desk. His brow was puckered, his fat face red with anxiety,

e, and fairly ground his

horse affair-has been broken into. That makes the third this week, and as usual every piece of gold is gone. Not a bank note touched, not a bond even fingered. And the thief-or thieves-made as clean a get-aw

ngineering the whole thing. How he must laugh at the state of the old Yard, with never a clue to settle down upon, never a thread to pick up and unravel! All of wh

ly. The action was one which Cleek k

cast some light on the inexplicable thin

nnection with several big electrical firms engaged upon work out there. The Secret Service wired over that fact, and I got it first hand. Now it strikes me there must be some connection between the two things. These

ther too fat for one's conceptions of what a policeman ought to be, yet

ars that lay well back against his head, and his hands were slim and exceedingly well-kept. Of his age-well that, like himself, was an enigma. To-day he might have been anything between thirty-five and forty-to-morrow probably he would be look

e manner one of polite and tolerant interest. But Mr. Narkom knew that this same manner marked an intensit

so sovereigns; the second was at Peckham-on the outskirts, you understand; the third at Harrow; the fourth somewhere near Forest Hill, and the fifth in Croydon. Other places on the South East side of London have come in for their share, too, as for instance Anerley and Sutton. This last affair took place at Hendon, during the evening of Saturday last-the sixtee

r live, if not over the bank itse

o are both thoroughly trustworthy in every way, so Mr. Barker tells me-act as caretakers. But they positively

ld taken," supplemented Cleek quietly. "And w

used to crack the safe. Everything was left perfectly neat and tidy and only the bags of gold-amounting to seven hundred and fi

y finger

om shook

eak. For rubber gloves, when they are new, particularly, possess a very strong smell, and this still clung to the door-knob of

hinking that this news from the War Office with regard to English gold in Belgium has something to do with these bank robberies, my friend. The two things seem to hang together in my mind, and a dollar to a ducat that in the long run they identify themselves thus.... Hello! Who's that?" as a tap sounded at the door. "I'll be off if you're expecting

led "Come in!" The door opened to admit Petrie, very straight and business-like. "

Nigel Merriton he said his name was. Bit of a toff I should say by the look of 'im. And wants to see you pa

time was very great friends with Miss Lorne. That was in the old Hawksley days. Chap's lately come into his inheritance, I believe. Uncle disappeared some five or six years ago and legal time being up, young Merriton has come over to claim his own. The thing made a newspaper story for a week when it happene

lly disposed of during private office hours. Then he gave the order

general get-up, and when he did appear certainly no one would have recognized the aristocratic looking i

mediately the door opened and Petrie appeared followed closely by young Sir Nig

the strangest of his whole career. There was nothing about Sir Nigel, a well-dressed man about tow

e even remotely connected with crime in one form or another without showing excitement to a greater or lesser de

on that very gentleman's back, announced gravely that Cleek was absent on a government case, and asked what he could do. He waved a hand in Cleek's d

n space of time, and tell the very remarkable story, the details of which were told to Mr. Narkom and his nameless associate in the Superinten

he reader back to a few months before his present visit to the precincts of the Law, when Sir Nigel Merriton returned to England after twelve years of army life in India. A few days he had spent in London, renewing acquaintances, revi

ather a nasty one, but Nigel himself had come out unscathed, and much to be congratulated, he thought, since through that wreck he has become acquainted with what he firmly believed to be the most beautiful girl in the world. Bett