"Then the first intimation of your uncle's death you received the next morning?"
"Yes, when Janet telephoned to me. But she didn't say Uncle Robert was dead. She merely asked me to come up there at once, and I went."
"What did you think she wanted you for?"
"I thought that either uncle was ill or she was herself, for she had never telephoned for me before in the morning."
"I thank you, Mr. Lawrence," said Fleming Stone, "for your frank and straightforward account of this affair, and for your courteous answers to my questions. You know, of course, that it is the unpleasant duty of a detective to ask questions unmercifully, in the hope of being set upon the right track at last."
"I quite appreciate your position, my dear sir, and I trust I have given you all the information you desire. As I have told Mr. Landon, I have no taste for detective work myself, but I suppose it has to be done by somebody."
After polite good-byes on both sides, we left Lawrence in his studio, and went down-stairs. Mr. Stone insisted on walking down, though it was four flights, and I, of course, raised no objection.
When we reached the ground floor he stepped into the office, which was a small room just at the right of the entrance, and not far from the elevator.
After a glance at the office clock which stood on the desk, Mr. Stone addressed himself to the office boy.