Merrill had lost interest in the affair and did not hesitate to show it.
'Seems to me you must have counted wrongly,' he declared. 'In any case, there's no one here now, and it's quite certain that no one has been in during the last hour or so.'
Lavendale said nothing for a moment. He examined the flat once more carefully, locked it up, and took the key back to Mr. Somers-Keyne's room. The dramatist opened the door himself.
'You were favourably impressed, I trust, with the rooms?' he inquired, holding out his hand for the key.
'I am not sure,' Lavendale replied. 'Tell me, how long is it since any one occupied them?'
'They are dusted and swept once a week,' Mr. Somers-Keyne told him, looking closely at his questioner from underneath his puffy eyelids, 'and they may have been shown occasionally to a prospective tenant. Otherwise, no one has been in them for nearly a month.'
'No one could have been in them this morning, then?'
'Absolutely impossible,' was the confident answer. 'The keys have not been off my shelf.'
'We must not interrupt you further,' Lavendale declared. 'I shall apply for a first night seat when your production is presented, Mr. Somers-Keyne.'
'You are very good, sir,' the other acknowledged. 'Your face, I may say, is familiar to me as a patron of the theatre. What are the chances, may I inquire, of your taking up your residence in this building?'