Chapter VII.—The Hounds of the Law.INSPECTOR THOMAS SKEWES of the C.I.D. was a tough, hard-bitten man of forty-seven who had worked his way up to his inspectorship by sheer bull-dog grit. Stern-faced, with cold and searching eyes, as a general rule he had very little to say for himself, but he was very thorough in his work and, when engaged upon any investigation, let little escape him.
Inspector Isaac Mendel, a son of Israel, as his names implied, and one of the youngest inspectors attached to the Criminal Investigation Department—he was only thirty-two—had, however, been cast in a very different mould.
Born in an East End London slum, he was nevertheless refined-looking, with the eyes and forehead of the dreamer. He owed his high position for one so young to his lively imagination and
