"Very well. You can go, Holmes."
But Holmes lingered a moment. "Won't you dine yourself, sir?"
"Later on. I am engaged just now. All right. Don't wait."
Holmes shook his head disapprovingly without further words, and turned to obey.
Mordaunt closed the door and turned the key, then walked slowly across the room to the window by which the Frenchman had sat that afternoon, and opened it wide. The night was very dark, and through it the sea moaned desolately. The wind was rising with the tide and blew in salt and cold, infinitely refreshing after the stuffy heat of the day. He leaned his head for a while against the window-frame. There was intense weariness in his attitude.
He uttered a great sigh at last and stood up, paused a moment, as though to pull himself together, then, with his customary precision of movement, he turned from the open window and walked across to the door that led into the next room. His face was somewhat paler than usual, but perfectly composed.
Without hesitation he opened the door and spoke. "Now, Bertrand!"
CHAPTER VI
MAN TO MAN
There was a quick movement in answer to the summons, and in a moment the visitor presented himself. He had taken the false hair from his face, and his gait was no longer halting. He looked up at Mordaunt with sharp anxiety as he came through.