“It’s only half-past nine,” she said, with a glance at her wrist watch. “My brother sits up till all hours over his papers and books. I will take all responsibility upon myself for the visit. I will tell Robert that I literally had to drag you with me, and he will understand that we simply had to see him to-night, as he knows we are going home to London first thing in the morning. Do come, Dr. Ravenshaw. The car is waiting.”
He consulted his own watch.
“Very well, Mrs. Pendleton,” he assented. “I will accompany you. Please excuse me while I get my coat.”
He rejoined them in a moment or two, and they proceeded outside to the waiting car.
Chapter IX
A few minutes later the car stopped in the gloom outside the old house on the cliffs. The storm had passed, but the sea still raged white beneath an inky sky. A faint gleam from a shuttered front window pointed a finger of light to the gravel path which led to the front door.
Mrs. Pendleton knocked, and an answer came quickly. The door was partly opened, and Thalassa’s voice from within parleyed: “Who’s there?”
“Mrs. Pendleton—your master’s sister,” was the reply. “Let us in, Thalassa.”
The door was at once opened wide, and Thalassa stood back for them to enter. By the light of the lamp he carried they saw that he was dressed and coated for a journey, with his hat on.