The Burry Inlet, on the south coast of Wales, looks its best from the sea. At least so thought Mr. Morgan as he sat in the sternsheets of his boat, a fishing-line between his fingers, while his son, E...

Dusk was already falling when a short, rather stout man with keen blue eyes from which a twinkle never seemed far removed, alighted from the London train at Burry Port and made his way to Sergeant Nie...

Tom Manners was hoeing in his little garden when French hailed him. He was not a native, but the course of a long career had led him from Shoreditch, via the Royal Navy, to Burry Port. In person he wa...

On reaching Swansea French looked up Superintendent Howells at the police station. “Glad to see you, Mr. French,” the superintendent greeted him. “I’ve known your name for a considerable time and sinc...

Shortly before six o’clock that evening French stepped out of the train at the little terminus of Ashburton. He had enjoyed his run, particularly the latter portion through the charming South Devonshi...

The letter was written on a single sheet of cream-laid, court-sized paper and bore the legend “Euston Hotel, London. NW1.” in blue type on its right corner. It was typed in black, and French could see...

French saw that in order to get the information he required he must confide in someone who knew the locality. He therefore went down next morning to the police station to consult Sergeant Daw. “Good m...

It is wonderful what an effect a good night’s sleep and a bright morning will have on the mind of a healthy man. French had gone to bed tired and worried about this case. He woke cheery and optimistic...

French believed that he had obtained all the available information about the Berlyns from his interview with the sergeant and Lizzie Johnston. Pyke was the next name on his list and he now crossed Eas...

Now that he was in London, French decided that he should complete certain enquiries. First he should satisfy himself that everything possible had been done to trace the letter-writers of the Euston an...

French had now reconciled the apparent contradiction in regard to one of his four test points. Obviously his next job was to clear up the other three. As he considered on which he should first concent...

The saying “it never rains but what it pours” is a popular expression of the unhappy fact that misfortunes never come singly. Fortunately for suffering humanity, the phrase expresses only half the tru...

French’s new idea had been subconsciously in his mind from the very first, but probably owing to his theory of the guilt of one of the two men supposed to be lost, he had never given it the considerat...

On reaching the road, French returned to his clump of brushwood and once more concealed himself. He was anxious to intercept Domlio before he reached home and received the account of the afternoon’s h...

“Have you been able to get the pump, Sergeant?” asked French as he reached the police station that afternoon. “I’ve got the loan of one, Mr. French, or at least I’ll get it first thing tomorrow. From ...

That night as French was writing up his diary the question he had asked Domlio recurred to him. “Tell me, Colonel,” he had said, “did it not strike you as strange that Mrs. Berlyn should stumble at ju...

Before leaving Plymouth French had wired to Mrs. Berlyn, asking for an interview for the following Monday morning. On reaching the Yard he found a reply. If he called round about half past ten the lad...

French telephoned for a relief to take over the shadowing of Pyke during the afternoon, but by six o’clock he was back in Kepple Street, with the intention of being, if possible, present at the rendez...

“Any luck, Carter?” French asked, quietly, as he reentered Pyke’s room. “No, sir. He has taken a suitcase with him, a brown leather one of medium size. I got the description from Mrs. Welsh. She says ...

When French struggled back into consciousness he found himself lying on the floor of that upper room with Sergeant Carter bending solicitously over him. “He’s coming to,” he heard him say as if from a...