The Maelstrom

nctually at twenty-past eight he left his semi-detached house and boarded a car for Westminster Bridge. There were occasions when the routine was upset, but it will be observed that on the whole Weir Menzies was a creature of habit. He had all that respect for order and method that has made Upper Tooting what it is. From the heavy gold watch-chain that spanned his ample waist, to his rubicund face and heavy black moustache, he wore Tooting respectability all over him. It was a cause of poignant regret to him that circumstance prevented him taking any part in the local government of the borough. Nevertheless, he belonged to the local constitutional club, and was the highly esteemed people's warden at the Church of All Saints. The acute observer, knowing all this, might have judged him a deserving wholesale ironmonger. And the acute observer would have been wrong. Punctually at half-past nine, Weir Menzies would pass up a flight of narrow stone stairs at the back ofNew Scotland Yard into the chief inspector's room of the 'Criminal Investigation Department. From his buttonhole he would take the choice blossom?gathered that day at Magersfontein Road, Upper Tooting?place it carefully in a freshly-filled vase, exchange his well- brushed morning coat for a jacket of alpaca, place paper protectors on his cuffs, and settle down on his high stool ?he preferred a high stool?to half an hour's correspondence. Mr. Weir Menzies, churchwarden of Upper Tooting, was in fac...