Edgar Wallace

“ Peter doesn't know there's so much money in the world."
The ticking of the station clock made him raise his eyes. It was a quarter to twelve—nearly time for him to make another call at Malpas Mansions. She must have returned by now, he thought.
"You're nervous to-night, inspector," said the sergeant. "You're not afraid the Ringer will get busy to-night, are you?"
"Not the Ringer; Lenley," said Alan curtly. "If ever I saw murder in a man's eyes it was in Johnny's. The only thing is, he's just a bit too level-headed to take that risk. He'll know we have the house watched—— Why, Peter!" ”

“ Alan Wembury was very earnest. "It may be that Meister will have visitors to-night, or people who want to see him for some reason—for some good reason," he corrected himself. "There is one person I do not want to come into this house, and you have instructions that she is not to be admitted." ”

“ To Meister's? His first business was to continue the search for Johnny Lenley, but for the moment he had a duty which was nearer to him than the call of the State. He posted a plain-clothes officer to watch the mansions and hurried to Flanders Lane. Atkins was outside, with his back to the black door, a pipe between his teeth, as comfortable as a man can be whom duty compelled to remain exposed to the chill of the night. Nobody had been, he said, and Wembury went round to the back of the house and tried the stable door. ”

“ If it's true that he's leaving for Canada, then there's an undiscovered larceny somewhere in the background, and that concerns me much more than his licence. If he wanted to emigrate on his own money I would willingly ask permission, supposing Canada were so foolish as to accept such an unreliable brute, but it's the larceny I'm thinking about."
Sergeant Carter got down from his stool with a wince. Not that he was in pain; most men of his age wince at anything that has the appearance of exertion.
"Peter's generally right," he said again. "He's the best nose I've struck for a very long time. ”

“ He dropped on to the pavement with the ease of a trained athlete, and, darting across the road to where a lesser street joined the thoroughfare, he had vanished when the first policeman came on the scene. ”