Nevertheless, it was good policy to be friendly to persons who might some day be desirable clients.
Before the clock on the lawyer’s desk had reached nine, Cranston suddenly recalled his almost forgotten appointment at the Cobalt Club. He said good-by to Noyes, and was ushered from the apartment by the lawyer’s manservant.
Parker Noyes gave no further thought to Cranston. The gray-haired lawyer sat at his desk, his brow furrowed in deep thought.
LAMONT CRANSTON was out of the lawyer’s mind. But he was still very much concerned with the affairs of Parker Noyes. In the dim hallway outside the apartment, a strange transformation was taking place.
Cranston, when he had left the limousine, had carried what appeared to be a hat and coat upon his arm.
Now, as he stood in a secluded alcove of the hall, he spread those garments.
The coat developed into a black cloak with a crimson lining that shone sullenly in the obscure light. The red portion of the garment disappeared from view as the folds of the cloak spread about the tall form.
Then the hat took shape. Soft and broad-brimmed, it rested upon the head above the cloak, and its turned-down edge hid the features beneath it.
Lamont Cranston had become The Shadow! Noiselessly, like a phantom of the night, he stalked across the hall to the door of the lawyer’s apartment. There he paused momentarily, and suddenly swung away to seek the shelter of the wall and door. His form merged with the blackness at the end of the hall, as a man stepped from the elevator some distance away.
It was the visitor whom Parker Noyes was expecting. The man came within the range of The Shadow’s observation as he stopped before the door, where The Shadow had so lately been. A man of medium height with square, heavy-jawed face, this stranger had a practical air that characterized him as a man of action.