The reports had come in: every anarchist had been exactly accounted for.
After saying this he lowered his eyes, signed rapidly two single sheets of paper, and only then laid down his pen, and sat well back, directing an inquiring gaze at his renowned subordinate.

The Chief Inspector stood it well, deferential but inscrutable.
"I daresay you were right," said the Assistant Commissioner, "in telling me at first that the London anarchists had nothing to do with this.

I quite appreciate the excellent watch kept on them by your men.

On the other hand, this, for the public, does not amount to more than a confession of ignorance." The Assistant Commissioner's delivery was leisurely, as it were cautious.
His thought seemed to rest poised on a word before passing to another, as though words had been the stepping-stones for his intellect picking its way across the waters of error.

"Unless you have brought something useful from Greenwich," he added.
The Chief Inspector began at once the account of his investigation in a clear matter-of-fact manner.