"What the singing woman, as you call her, can tell us will most likely make all the difference in the world to our investigations.

Remember the shoe-buckle! Have it ready to exhibit when I lead up to it.

Then--we shall see." The prima donna, back for her engagement at eleven o'clock, came in flushed and smiling--the extraordinary warmth and fervour of her reception by the audience which she had at first been so inclined to treat with scant courtesy had restored her to good humour, and when she had eaten a few mouthfuls of delicate food and drunk her first glass of champagne she began to laugh almost light-heartedly.
"Well, I suppose you've been doing your best, Fullaway," she said, with easy familiarity.

"I declare you turned up at the very moment, for that fat Weiss would have been no good.

But I'm still wondering how you came to be here, and what this gentleman--Mr.Allerdyke, is it ?--is doing here with you.