‘Why, what on earth are you making such a row about?’ replied the spirit.
I leapt to my feet in a moment.
‘This is some shameful hoax!’ I exclaimed. ‘Who are you, and what do you do here?’
‘I should think I might put the same question to you, since I find you sitting in the dark, at dead of night, with my landlord and landlady.’
‘Lor’, Mr Montmorency, it’s never you, sir!’ ejaculated old Bizzey, with a feeble giggle.
The voice seemed familiar to me. Who on earth was this Mr Montmorency, who had intruded upon our séance at the most important juncture? I turned up the lamp and threw its light full upon his features. ‘Good heavens!’ I exclaimed, ‘it’s Julian Cockleboat.’
The young man was equally astonished with myself.
‘Did Lord Seaborne send you after me?’ he said, guessing the truth at once. ‘And how did you find out I was lodging here?’
‘Aha, my boy!’ I replied, unwilling to deny the kúdos with which he credited me, ‘that’s my secret. Do you suppose I have gained the name of the amateur detective among my friends for nothing? No, no! I am in Norwich expressly for the purpose of restoring you to your guardian, and as I knew that to show my hand more openly would be to scare you off to another hiding place, I devised this little plan for making you reveal yourself in your true character.’
‘Did Robson tell you, then, that I had taken an engagement at the theatre here?’