Edgar Wallace

“ We have the money, but there's a bigger thing still, The old man is getting nervous—isn't he, Rosie?”
The professor nodded. “Skeptical is a better word,” he said sadly. “He is uneasy and worried. He asked me last night if the gods did not interest themselves in anything except the spending of money. That was bad.”
“Some day he'll open his mouth and blow gaff,” said Tom Scatwell, “and then it'll be good-by for all of us. We must shut his mouth unless we all want to go to the chair. Oh, you needn't look like that,” he went on. “We're all in it.” ”

“ Are people who believe in 'hunches' mad? Are fellows who won't sit thirteen at table, who refuse to go under ladders, are they mad? Maybe it is madness of a kind. No, he is not mad, but he's got his soft side. ”

“ Go and look at him, Rosie.”
The professor did not trouble to pull off his apron, but went out of the room and presently came back.
“Well?” asked Scatwell.
“Well,” answered Rosie, “I don't see anything remarkable about him. Really I don't, my dear fellow.”
“Then look at him again, you bat,” said Scatwell. “Why, the man is almost the double of Correlly.”
“Correlly? Do you think it is Correlly?” said Rosie in alarm. “Perhaps he's come here disguised.”
“Don't be a fool; I merely said he was like Correlly.”
“But what if he is?” asked Sam. ”

“ With most men the soft side runs to women. Look at the hundreds of well-conducted, nice-looking, clean-talking business men who come into town every day, who discuss religion and art and all that stuff as sanely as Rosie would. ”

“ Your joke would be no joke if I were seen to leave here.”
“He's right,” said Rosie, “perfectly right. He could have the room that we hired for Sam when he was playing chauffeur for Wilbur Smith.”
Guiseppe Gatti—such was the name he gave—was conducted to the lodging, and the professor, having secured a photograph of Peter which was printed in a newspaper in the previous year, took the man's measure with his own hand and procured the clothes. ”

“ Violence is contrary to my principles and methods. Any dick will tell you that I have never given the slightest trouble to any representative of the law; that I have not so much as hurt a child in the pursuit of any graft which attracted me. ”

“ I know a man in this city'—he paused and shook his head regretfully—“if I wasn't in a hurry I'd make him pay for my knowledge—a respectable half millionaire, with a wife and family, who is stark, raving mad over a flat-footed manicurist. with a face as ugly as sin.” ”

“ And what's more, he's much too well dressed. That fellow Correlly looks more like a tramp. You've got to be careful—a fashionable-looking Correlly will attract attention.”
Scatwell nodded. “Sam, run round to that fellow's lodging and tell him he's not to come out except by night. And, say, tell him to put a bit of sticking plaster on his left cheek. Show Sam where, Rosie,” and Rosie illustrated the exact position, the size and the shape of the patch. ”

“ He observed that the professor was eying him with unusual interest.
“What is the matter, professor?”
Peter smiled and put his hand to his chin, which was ornamented by a small square of sticking plaster. “I cut myself thi smorning,” he said. “Is anything wrong with it?”
“No, no, Mr.—I've forgotten your name already. No, no, Mr. Correlly, I was merely looking at you, but thinking of something else, something entirely different.”
Peter smiled and turned to the girl.
“I suppose you're a very busy man, Mr. ”