A telephone was on the desk, and loose papers partly written upon bore evidence that the detective had been busy at work when I arrived.
At a motion from my host I seated myself in one of the large arm chairs facing him, while he remained standing.
I saw that he was a man about thirty-eight or forty years old, straight as an arrow and splendidly proportioned. He was dressed in a well-fitting gray suit.
The light was from above, and Oakes's face showed well—the clear-cut nose and generous mouth of the energetic American.
He looked at me critically with deep-set, steady blue eyes, then smiled slightly in a well-controlled, dignified manner.
"Mr. Stone, I am very glad that you were able to come tonight. Make yourself at home," he said.
I made an appropriate answer of some kind, and then Oakes took the seat near me and began, without further ceremony:
"I have arranged that our friend Dr. Moore shall come here this evening; meanwhile, I will inform you briefly of the subject in hand."
"A few months ago Mandel & Sturgeon the attorneys, whom you doubtless know, consulted me regarding the unpleasant happenings at the mansion of one Odell Mark, up-State, in the town of Mona.
"Now, Mandel & Sturgeon suggested, also, that you might care to help unravel the matter, acting as their legal representative.