‘Hundred and Ninety-first Foot,’ said the medical man. ‘I’ve had considerable experience in gunshot wounds, and I don’t think Mr. Leland’s case at all desperate, if that’s any comfort to anybody,’ There the doctor smiled. ‘You are Mr. Barndale, I presume. Miss Leland has evidence of the name and even the whereabouts of the scoundrel who inflicted the wound, and we are here to hunt him up.’
‘May I ask who’s the suspected party?’ asked Inspector Webb with his eye on the doctor.
‘Demetri Agryopoulo,’ said Lilian, ‘a Greek——’
‘Attached to the Persian Embassy at Constantinople.’ said Inspector Webb. ‘All right. Come with me, ma’am. This way, gentlemen.’ And the inspector marshalled them all upstairs. There he gave a whispered order to an officer who lounged to the door, and placed his back against it, and there picked his teeth, insouciant. The inspector disappeared. In two minutes he was back again.
‘This way, ma’am. This way, gentlemen,’ And he ushered all three before him up a set of stone stairs, down a set of stone stairs, and into a carpeted apartment, where sat a gentleman of military aspect, behind a business-looking table overspread with papers.
‘You have a statement to make to me, I believe,’ he said to Lilian with grave politeness.
Lilian told her story without faltering and without superfluous words. When she mentioned the pipe Dr. Wattiss drew a packet from his pocket and unwound it carefully, and laid the precious meerschaum on the table.
‘What is this statement of a nightly quarrel between the two residents in the house-boat, Webb?’ Thus spoke the superior officer behind the business table.
‘Man named Hodges, sir,’ responded the inspector, ‘states that he overheard violent rows after dusk.’
In spite of all his grief and anxiety Barn-dale laughed, and was about to speak in explanation when Lilian rose and laid a letter on the table.