Doddridge Knapp followed me to the door, and stood on the threshold as I walked down the hall. There was no chance for spying or listening at keyholes, if I were so inclined, and it was not until I had reached the bottom stair that I thought I heard the sound of a closing door behind me.
As I stood at the entrance, almost oblivious of the throng that was hurrying up and down Clay Street, Porter joined me.
“Did you see him?” he asked.
“Him? Who?”
“Why, Tom Terrill sneaked down those stairs a little bit ago, and I thought you might have found him up there.”
Could it be possible that this man had been with Doddridge Knapp, and that it was his voice I had heard? This in turn seemed improbable, hardly possible.
“There he is now,” whispered Porter.
I turned my eyes in the direction he indicated, and a shock ran through me; for my eye had met the eye of a serpent. Yes, there again was the cruel, keen face, and the glittering, repulsive eye, filled with malice and hatred, that I had beheld with loathing and dread whenever it had come in my path. With an evil glance Terrill turned and made off in the crowd.
“Follow that man, Wainwright,” said I to the second guard, who was close at hand. “Watch him to-night and report to me to-morrow.”
I wondered what could be the meaning of Terrill's visit to the building. Was it to see Doddridge Knapp and get his orders? Or was it to follow up some new plan to wrest from me the secret I was supposed to hold? But there was no answer to these questions, and I turned toward my room to prepare for the excursion that had been set for the evening.