"If there are inexplicable echoes in this building," I said, "it is due to the construction. And don't forget, you wanted it this way. Now that I have proved to your satisfaction that you don't have rats, I might as well go. Good day."
I got my hat, and neither Stoddard nor his wife had much to say as they saw me to the door. Their accusing attitudes had vanished, however, and they both seemed even a trifle sheepish.
It was two o'clock when I left them. I'd killed better than an hour and a half prowling around the place, and another half hour driving out. I was damned disgusted by the time I got back to my office.
You can imagine my state of mind, consequently, some twenty-five minutes after I'd been back in my office, when I answered the telephone to hear Stoddard's voice coming over it.
"Mr. Kermit," he babbled excitedly, "this is George B. Stoddard again, Mr. Kermit!"
"What've you got now?" I demanded. "And don't tell me termites!"
"Mr. Kermit," Stoddard gasped, "you have to come back right away, Mr. Kermit!"
"I will like hell," I told him flatly, hanging up.
The telephone rang again in another half minute. It was Stoddard again.
"Mr. Kermit, pleeeease listen to me! I beg of you, come out here at once. It's terribly important!"