"Nor am I a good swordsman as yet. Who can be, with so little opportunity to practice? My father fought two duels."
Martin, who had been about to get away as politely as possible, felt the tangle of ugly incidents catch him again like a net of hooks.
"By the way," he said. "Chief Inspector Masters wants to see you."
Dr. Laurier looked frankly puzzled,
"Chief… ah, yes! He and some other man came to my home last night before I joined you here. They asked some questions, completely mysterious to me, about a clock formerly owned by my father."
"That's not on his mind now. He wants to know," Martin cleared his throat "whether what we found on that dagger was human blood."
Dr. Laurier remained silent for a brief time.
"I regret to say," he answered, "that it was human blood.’’
Martin climbed the treacherous stairs. Would the lid bang on memory this time? Not quite, perhaps; but enough. Oh, to the devil with it anyway! In a very short time, any minute now, Jenny would be here. And he emerged on the roof.
Jenny was right The roof-top lay just a few feet above the mist. In every direction it swam and hovered, so that only a few tree-tops showed green like islands. Far over across the way, the front of the Dragon's Rest lay submerged well above its gable-windows, the three gables rising to steep peaks with plaster faces and window-curtains drawn close.