Eagerly they crowded together for a look as Scottie held the tiny square to the light.
“He’s there!” John Nightingale whispered.
“There!” Mary Dare echoed.
“Wait,” cautioned Scottie the veteran. Many a picture had he seen go wrong in the making.
Sensing the tense excitement about him and consumed by a desire to tease a little, Scottie held the film in the solution for what to the watchers seemed an endless period of time.
“There,” he drew a long breath at last. “She should be done to a turn.”
Holding the film up with one hand, he examined it through a large magnifying glass.
“Jimmie! Jimmie!” he exclaimed. “I might have known it! You got only his ear. Why in time didn’t you ask the gentleman to turn around?” The laugh that followed was mirthless. Scottie had wanted to see Jimmie succeed.
“An ear!” Jimmie murmured.
“An ear!” Mary repeated.