Stratton turned ghastly, but he was in the shade.
“No cupboard there,” said Guest sharply.
The sergeant turned quickly, and his light flashed across the faces of the two friends. He saw Stratton’s wild look, and he tapped on the panel.
“No cupboard, sir? Sounds hollow, too.”
Guest caught sight of his friend’s face at the same moment, and his pulses leaped; a confused mist of memories flooded his brain, and something made him keep silence, though, had he been asked, he could not have explained why.
“I should say there is a cupboard here,” continued the sergeant, turning back to examine it. “Fastened up, but been a cupboard like the other, of course.”
Guest glanced at Stratton again in the gloom, but he could see nothing now, with the light averted, only hear his heavy breathing, which was faintly stertorous, as if from exertion.
“Let me see, gentlemen, you live in the next chambers?”
Stratton was silent, while Guest met the officer’s eye, and involuntarily answered: “Yes.”
“Do they back on to there?”