I stared at him incredulously.
"Do you mean to tell me," I said, "that, after last night, you have dared to remain in the hotel—that you have a room here?"
My visitor smiled.
"But certainly," he said, "you are under some curious apprehension as to the events of last night. My friend and I are most harmless individuals. We only wanted a little business conversation with Mr. Guest, which he was foolish enough to try and avoid. That is all arranged, now, however!"
"Is it?" I answered curtly. "Then I am sorry for Mr. Guest!"
Again my visitor smiled—quite a harmless smile it was, as of pity for some unaccountably foolish person.
"You do not seem," he remarked, "if I may be pardoned for saying so, a very imaginative person, Mr. Courage, but you certainly have some strange ideas as to my friend and myself. Possibly Mr. Guest himself is responsible for them! A very excitable person at times!"
"You had better take me to him, if that is your errand," I said shortly.
"This sort of conversation between you and me is rather a waste of time."
"Certainly!" he answered. "Will you follow me?"
We took the lift to the sixth floor, traversed an entire corridor, and then, mounting a short and narrow flight of stairs, we arrived at a passage with three or four doors on either side, and no exit at the further end. We seemed to be entirely cut off from the main portion of the hotel, and I noticed that there were no numbers on the doors of the rooms. A very tall and powerful-looking man came to the head of the stairs, on hearing our footsteps, and regarded us suspiciously. Directly he recognized my companion, however, he allowed us to pass.