The Saint Meets His Match (She was a Lady)

Cullis nodded; and the uniformed men filed through the opening in the wall. The plain-clothes men hesitated, but the Saint signalled them on.

"I'll take Trelawney myself—my share of this job is over."

As the detectives disappeared, the Saint opened the door and led Jill Trelawney out into a small bare hall. Cullis followed. Outside, a taxi was waiting and Simon pushed the girl in.

Then he turned back to the commissioner.

"You might find it entertaining to take a toddle up that tunnel yourself," he said. "There's something amusing in the room at the other end which the boys should be discovering about now. Oh, and you might give my love to Claud Eustace next time you see him. Tell him I always was the greatest detective of you all—the joke should make him scream."

Cullis nodded.

"Are you taking her to the station?"

"I am," said the Saint truthfully, and closed the door.

And then the Saint settled back and lighted another cigarette as the taxi drew away from the curb.

"We've just time to catch the next train to town with eighty seconds to spare," he remarked; and the girl turned to him with the nearest thing to a straight-forward smile that he had seen on her lips yet.

"And after that?"'

"I know a place near London where the train slows up to a walking pace. We can step off there, and the synthetic sleuths who will be infesting Paddington by the time the train gets in can wait for us as long as they like."

She met his eyes steadily.

"You mean that?"

"But of course!" said the Saint. "And you can ask me anything else you want to know. This is the end of my career as a policeman. I never thought the hell of a lot of the job, anyhow. I suppose you're wondering why?"

She nodded.

"I suppose I am."

"Well, I butted into this party more or less by way of a joke. A joke and a promise, Jill, which I may tell you about one day. Or maybe I won't. Whether you were right or wrong had nothing to do with it at all; but from what the late lamented Weald was saying when I crashed his sheik stuff it seems you're right, and that really has got something to do with the flowers that bloom in the spring."

There was another silence. She accepted a cigarette from his case, and a light.

Presently she said: "And after we leave the train?"

"Somewhere in this wide world," said the Saint, "there's a bloke by the name of Essenden. He is going to Paris to-morrow, and so are we."

Chapter V

HOW LORD ESSENDEN WAS PEEVED,

AND SIMON TEMPLAR RECEIVED A VISITOR