“I don’t know that myself, but it was addressed to me at my rooms, 318, Rua de Palma, and reached me to-night through the post.”
“How long have you been in this house?”
“Some hours.”
“Alone?” he cried with another sneer.
“Oh no. For part of the time one man was here; for others, two; and at times perhaps a dozen.”
“Where are they?”
“I have no more idea than you. There were two of them when you and your men arrived. I was then left alone.”
“But the house was surrounded. They couldn’t escape.”
“I was brought straight to this room and have not been allowed to leave it for a moment.”
“‘Allowed’?” he repeated quickly, catching at the word.