Edgar Wallace

“ There isn't a meaner fellow in the world than Jagg."
"He seemed quite nice," said Chick dubiously.
The detective laughed, and related briefly what had happened to Anita Pireau, a companion of his who had given information to the police.
Chick listened and shivered.
"So you see, sir," said Sullivan, "it is not safe for you to be living in this house, the only man here."
"How did you know that?" smiled Chick.
"I've a tongue in my head," said the detective good-humouredly. "What I want to know, Lord Pelborough, is, will you let me sleep in this house for the next week?" ”

“ The room was in darkness, save for the faint light supplied by the dawn, and he saw standing by Gwenda's bed the figure of a man. His back was toward Chick, and he was bending over the bed, one hand over the mouth of the girl, who was lying motionless. There was an electric switch near the door, and Chick pressed it down.
Instantly the room was flooded with light. The man turned quickly, and Chick looked into the smiling face of Jagg Flower. ”

“ Chick almost wished it had.
"Chick is a curious man," said Mrs. Phibbs, his housekeeper.
Gwenda's thoughts were running on the same lines, but she was not ready to agree even with the criticisms offered by such a good friend of theirs as Mrs. Phibbs.
"Why?" she asked.
"He has so many unexpected moods," said Mrs. Phibbs, putting down her book and polishing her pince-nez, "He came here in the depth of gloom. Really he was most depressing, Gwenda. And then the day that very nice American called I found him capering round the library like a demented child. ”

“ He had a fund of fascinating stories of crime and criminals, and Chick learnt of a world of which he had never dreamt, a world of human tigers that preyed alike upon the weaklings of their own species and upon the society which had offended them by its prosperity.
"Jagg had a friend named Beane," said Sullivan, on the third night of his visit, "a weak fool of a fellow. ”

“ Lord Mansar said—please don't shudder, Chick; it shakes me—Lord Mansar said that you had a 'miraculous left'; your left arm doesn't feel any different to the other. It is terribly hard, but so is the right arm. ”

“ THERE is a sixth sense which all criminals acquire, and which, whilst it is of the greatest value to them in the active pursuits of their profession, must invariably bring their careers to a disastrous finish. ”

“ The interview took place behind the closed doors of his library.
"That's Jagg's way. He's got an idea that you or the lady squealed to the police," said Detective Sullivan, "and he's a pretty dangerous man. You've heard of Jagg Flower, my lord? I understand you take an interest in boxing."
"Jagg Flower!"
Chick frowned.
"I don't remember his name."
"He'd have made a fortune in the ring if he'd only gone straight—the finest light-middle we ever had in America, and a dead shot, too," he added significantly. "He carries a gun. ”

“ A certain burglary, which had been accompanied by murder, had disfigured his earlier career; but, thanks to the assistance of friends, a swift voyage to the other side of the Atlantic, and his subsequent arrest and punishment for a breach of the European laws, he had forgotten that Vermont, Virginia, was on the map until, in the solitude of his Toulouse cell, he had read that the Marquis of Pelborough had acquired a country seat, that his name was originally Beane, and he was the nephew of Dr. ”