The Commissioner bit his lip thoughtfully. "And," urged T. B. Smith, "the N.H.C. will be warned, and bang goes our only chance of bagging the lot!"
"Your language, T. B.!" he deplored; then, "Do as you wish--but what about the real Mary Brown?"
"Oh, she can be sent on next week with apologies. We can get a new warrant if necessary."
"She's locked up in your office, sir," he said cheerfully.
The Commissioner said nothing, but T. B. declined to meet his eye.
At four o'clock the next morning, a woman attendant woke "La Belle Espagnole" from a fitful sleep, and a few minutes afterwards T. B., dressed for a journey and accompanied by a hard-faced wardress and a detective, came in.
"Where are you going to take me?" she demanded, but T. B.'s reply was not very informing.
A closed carriage deposited them at Euston in time to catch the early morning train.
In the compartment reserved for her and the wardress--it was a corridor carriage, and T. B. and his man occupied the next compartment--she found a dainty breakfast waiting for her, and a supply of literature. She slept the greater part of the journey and woke at the jolting of a shunting engine being attached to the carriage.
"We're there," was the cryptic reply of the woman attendant.
She was soon to discover, for, when the carriage finally came to a standstill and the door was opened, she stepped down onto a wind-swept quay. Ahead of her the great white hull of a steamer rose, and before she could realise the situation she had been hurried up the sloping gangway onto the deck.
Evidently T. B.'s night had been profitably spent, for he was expected. The purser met him.
"We got your telegrams," he said. "Is this the lady?"
The purser led the way down the spacious companion.
"I have prepared 'C' suite," he said, and ushered the party into a beautifully appointed cabin.
She noticed that a steel grating had been newly fixed to the porthole, but that was the only indication of her captivity.
"I have enlisted the help of the stewardess," said T. B., "and you will find all the clothing you are likely to require for the voyage. I am also instructed to hand you £300. You will find your little library well stocked. I myself have denuded my own poor stock of French novels in order that you might not be dull."