Page:Chesterton - The Club of Queer Trades.djvu/258

The Club of Queer Trades ? There is a restaurant in Sloane Square."

"I sometimes think you play the fool to frighten us," I said, irritably. "How can we leave that woman locked up? How can it be a mere private affair? How can crime and kidnapping and murder, for all I know, be private affairs? If you found a corpse in a man's drawing-room, would you think it bad taste to talk about it just as if it was a confounded dado or an infernal etching?"

Basil laughed heartily.

"That's very forcible," he said. "As a matter of fact, though, I know it's all right in this case. And there comes the green omnibus."

"How do you know it's all right in this case?" persisted his brother, angrily.

"My dear chap, the thing's obvious," answered Basil, holding a return ticket between his teeth while he fumbled in his waistcoat-pocket. "Those two fellows never committed a crime in their lives. They're not the kind. Have either of you chaps got a 236