“That woman must be deaf, surely,” he said, as he pressed the button a second time. “She came quick enough the last time I was here. I hope nothing's gone wrong.”
Sir Clinton waited until the prolonged peal of the bell ended when the doctor took his finger away, then he bent down to the slit of the letter-box and listened intently.
“I could swear I heard someone moving about, just then,” he said, as he rose to his full height again. “There must be someone on the premises to account for the shadow we saw at the window. This looks a bit rum, doctor. Ring again, will you?”
Dr. Ringwood obeyed. They could hear the trilling of a heavy gong somewhere in the back of the house.
“That ought to wake anyone up, surely,” he said with a nervous tinge in his voice. “This is my second experience of the sort this evening. I don't much care about it.”
They waited for a minute, but no one came to the door.
“It's not strictly legal,” Sir Clinton said at last, “but we've got to get inside somehow. I think we'll make your patient an excuse, if the worst comes to the worst. Just wait here a moment and I'll see what can be done.”
He went down the steps and disappeared in the fog. Dr. Ringwood waited for a minute or two, and then steps sounded in the hall behind the door. Sir Clinton opened it and motioned him to come in.
“The place seems to be empty,” he said hurriedly. “Stay here and see that no one passes you. I want to go round the ground floor first of all.”
He moved from door to door in the hall, switching on the lights and swiftly inspecting each room as he came to it.