“Wait a minute,” said Inspector Burton, in a low voice, and leaping to his feet, he gained the door in two strides, threw it open, peered out, then disappeared.
[CHAPTER IV—ENTER INSPECTOR BURTON]
While the others still sat where he had left them, regarding each other in speechless surprise, Inspector Burton returned, closed and locked the door, and resumed his chair as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.
“Thought I heard someone listening outside the door,” he explained. “When I opened it there was nobody in sight. Your room is only two doors from an angle in the hall. So I ran to the turning and looked along the corridor, but it was empty.”
“Now, what is it?” he asked.
Mr. Temple explained, and when he had concluded, Frank once more rehearsed the scraps of conversation which he had overheard the two low-voiced men drop on the observation platform of their train the previous night.
Inspector Burton’s eyes blazed with satisfaction. He pounded one clenched hand into the palm of the other, repeating the gesture several times.
“Good,” said he. “Good.”
Turning to Frank he commanded:
“Describe these men for me.”