The Rubber Band

Hombert muttered something to Cramer, and the inspector rumbled back. Clivers spoke up. "I'm concerned in this. Let Wolfe talk." He used a finger of his left hand to point at Perry because his right hand was still in his coat pocket. "That man is Rubber Coleman. Wolfe learned that, didn't he? What the devil have the rest of you done, except annoy me?"

Perry leveled his eyes at the marquis. "You're mistaken, Lord Clivers. You'll regret this."

Wolfe had taken advantage of the opportunity to finish his botde and ring for another. Now he looked around. "You gendemen may be curious why, if Mr. Perry is not Rubber Coleman, he does not express indignant wonderment at what I am talking about Oh, he could explain that. Long ago, shordy after she entered Seaboard's employ, Miss Fox told him the story which you heard from her last night. He knows all about the Rubber Band, from her, and also about her efforts to find its surviving members. And by the way, as regards the identity- did Mr. Walsh telephone you around five o'clock yesterday afternoon, Lord Clivers, and tell you he had just found Rubber Coleman?"

Clivers nodded. "He did."

Tes." Wolfe looked at Cramer. "As you informed me, immediately after leaving the Seaboard office, where he had gone on account of his unfortunate suspicions regarding Miss Fox and myself after Harlan Scovil had been killed, Mr. Walsh sought a telephone. There-as can doubdess be verified by inquiry, along with multitudinous other details-he had seen Mr. Perry. It is a pity he did not inform me, since in that case he would still be alive;

but what he did do was to phone Lord Clivers, with whom he had had a talk in the morning. He had called at the Hotel Portland and Lord Clivers had considered it advisable to see him, had informed him of the payment which had been made to Rubber Coleman long before, and had declared his intention of giving him a respectable sum of money. Now, learning from Mr. Walsh over the telephone that he had found Rubber Coleman, Lord Clivers saw that immediate and purposeful action was required if publicity was to be avoided; and he told Mr. Walsh that around seven o'clock that evening, on his way to a dinner engagement, he would stop in at the place Mr. Walsh was working, which was a short distance from his hotel. I have been told these details within the last hour. Is that correct, sir?"

Clivers nodded. "It is."