Chapter 7

"_En effet_," said the detective. "But the fact remains that people have been disturbed and the chief of police thought the matter should be enquired into." His colleague, who had hitherto preserved a silence that was positively sphinx-like, now broke it. "I notice by your passport that you are an author, _monsieur_," he said. Ashenden in reaction from his previous perturbation was feeling exceedingly debonair and he answered with good humour: "It is true. It is a profession full of tribulation, but it has now an…