innocence, or false simplicity, or sullen resignation. But behind that
professional and stony fixity there was some surprise, too, for in such a tone,
combining nicely the note of contempt and impatience, Chief Inspector Heat, the
right-hand man of the department, was not used to be addressed. He began in a
procrastinating manner, like a man taken unawares by a new and unexpected
experience.
    »What I've got against that man Michaelis you mean, sir?«
    The Assistant Commissioner watched the bullet head; the points of that Norse
rover's moustache, falling below the line of the heavy jaw; the whole full and
pale physiognomy, whose determined character was marred by too much flesh; at
the cunning wrinkles radiating from the outer corners of the eyes - and in that
purposeful contemplation of the valuable and trusted officer he drew a
conviction so sudden that it moved him like an inspiration.
    »I have reason to think that when you came into this room,« he said in
measured tones, »it was not Michaelis who was in your mind; not principally -
perhaps not at all.«
    »You have reason to think, sir?« muttered Chief Inspector Heat, with every
appearance of astonishment, which up to a certain point was genuine enough. He
had discovered in this affair a delicate and perplexing side, forcing upon the
discoverer a certain amount of insincerity - that sort of insincerity which,
under the names of skill, prudence, discretion, turns up at one point or another
in most human affairs. He felt at the moment like a tight-rope artist might feel
if suddenly, in the middle of the performance, the manager of the Music Hall
were to rush out of the proper managerial seclusion and begin to shake the rope.
Indignation, the sense of moral insecurity engendered by such a treacherous
proceeding joined to the immediate apprehension of a broken neck, would, in the
colloquial phrase, put him in a state. And there would be also some scandalized
concern for his art, too, since a man must identify himself with something more
tangible than his own personality, and establish his pride somewhere, either in
his social position, or in the quality of the work he is obliged to do, or
simply in the superiority of the idleness he may be fortunate enough to enjoy.
    »Yes,« said the Assistant Commissioner; »I have. I do not mean to say that
you have not thought of Michaelis at all. But you are giving the fact you've
mentioned a prominence which strikes me as not quite candid, Inspector Heat