“Your men, if I may say so, Battle, seem to have been singularly remiss. They didn’t see Miss Wade come in. If they could miss her coming in, they could easily miss the thief going out.”

Superintendent Battle opened his mouth to protest, then seemed to think better of it. Jimmy Thesiger looked at him curiously. He would have given a lot to know just what was in Superintendent Battle’s mind.

“Must have been a champion runner,” was all the Scotland Yard man contented himself with saying.

“How do you mean, Battle?”

“Just what I say, Mr. Lomax. I was round the corner of the terrace myself not fifty seconds after the shot was fired. And for a man to run all that distance towards me and get round the corner of the path before I appeared round the side of the house⁠—well, as I say, he must have been a champion runner.”