“Do you hear it?” asked Lee.
“No, sir, I was mistaken.”
Leon dipped his hand into his side pocket, took out a handful of something that looked like tiny candies wrapped in coloured paper. Only Meadows saw him scatter them left and right, and he was too discreet to ask why. Leon saw the inquiring lift of his eyebrows as he came back to his seat, but was wilfully dense. Thereafter, he ate his dinner with only an occasional glance towards the window.
“I’m not relying entirely upon my own lawyer’s advice,” said Mr. Lee. “I have telegraphed to Lisbon to ask Dr. Pinto Caillao to come to England, and he may be of greater service even than Poole, though where——”
The butler came in at this moment.
“Mrs. Poole has just telephoned, sir. Her husband has had a bad accident: his car ran into a tree trunk which was lying across the road near Lawley. It was on the other side of the bend, and he did not see it until too late.”
“Is he very badly hurt?”
“No, sir, but he is in the Cottage Hospital. Mrs. Poole says he is fit to travel home.”
The blind man sat open-mouthed.
“What a terrible thing to have happened!” he began.