“This servant had done these things before?”
“Not these things. He arrived but a few days ago, and Ito the butler, attended to the Doctor. But Sunday afternoon and evening Ito has off, so I began to train Nogi.”
“And this Nogi has disappeared?”
“Yes; he is not to be found this morning. Nor has his bed been disturbed.”
“Then we may take it he left in the night or early morning. Now the doctors judge that Doctor Waring died about midnight. We must therefore admit the possibility of a connection between the Jap’s disappearance and the Doctor’s death.”
At this suggestion, Gordon Lockwood looked interested. Whereas he had preserved a stony calm, his face now showed deep attention to the detective’s words and he nodded his head in agreement.
“You think so, too, Mr. Lockwood?” Morton asked, in that sudden and often disconcerting way of his.
“I don’t say I think so,” the secretary returned, quietly, “but I do admit a possibility.”
“It would seem so,” Mrs. Peyton put in, “if Nogi could have got into the study. But he couldn’t. You know it was locked—impossible, Mr. Lockwood?”
“Yes,” Gordon returned. “I heard Doctor Waring lock his door.”