“Perhaps,” said the visitor. “You may rest assured that in this case I am seeking the murderer of Henry Marchand; and that when I discover him, he will pay the full penalty for his crime.”
“Then you may count upon my full cooperation,” declared the physician.
“Your cooperation,” replied the stranger, “and your silence! I shall come again out of the darkness. If you receive a message from me, you will recognize its authorship. Should you require me urgently, call this number.”
The man stepped back across the room and placed a card in Doctor Lukens’s hand. The card bore a telephone number. The stranger turned and walked from the room.
As the door closed behind the man, the physician hurried in pursuit. He reached the head of the stairs and switched on the light in the hall below. He saw the man at the bottom of the stairs, standing beside a table.
The stranger had put on a black hat with a broad brim. His arms were outstretched as he drew a black cloak about his shoulders.
Doctor Lukens called, but the stranger made no reply. Instead, he moved toward the front door and opened it.
Lukens, hurrying down the stairs, arrived as the door closed behind the man in the black cloak. The physician opened the door and emerged upon the steps. He thought that he was but a few paces behind his departing visitor; yet the man was nowhere to be seen. He had stepped from the house and had disappeared.
FOR several minutes Lukens gazed up and down the street, seeking some trace of the vanished stranger.
His efforts unavailing, the physician returned into the house. As he went up the stairs, Oscar appeared.