“It's an infernal night,” he confirmed. “If I didn't know this end of the town like the palm of my hand, I'd have lost my way coming here. It's the thickest fog I've seen for long enough.”
“I'm in a worse box, for I don't know the town,” Dr. Ringwood pointed out. “And we're not near the peak of this 'flu epidemic yet, by a long way. You're lucky to be on the scientific side. Croft-Thornton Research Institute, isn't it?”
“Yes, I came here three years ago, in 1925. Silverdale beat me for the head post in the chemical department; they gave me the second place.”
“Silverdale?” Dr. Ringwood mused. “The fellow who works on alkaloids? Turned out a new condensate lately as side-line? I seem to know the name.”
“That's him. He doesn't worry me much. I dine at his house now and again; but beyond that we don't see much of each other outside the Institute.”
“I've a notion I ran across him once at a smoker in the old days. He played the banjo rather well. Clean-shaven, rather neatly turned out? He'll be about thirty-five or so. By the way, he's married now, isn't he?”
A faint expression of contempt crossed Markfield's face.
“Oh, yes, he's married. A French girl. I came across her in some amateur theatricals after they arrived here. Rather amusing at first, but a bit too exacting if one took her on as a permanency, I should think. I used to dance with her a lot at first, but the pace got a bit too hot for my taste. A man must have some evenings to himself, you know; and what she wanted was a permanent dancing-partner. She's taken on a cub at the Institute—young Hassendean—for the business.”
“Doesn't Silverdale do anything in that line himself?”
“Not a damn. Hates dancing except occasionally. They're a weird couple. Nothing whatever in common, that I can see; and they've apparently agreed that each takes a separate road. You never see 'em together. She's always around with this Hassendean brat—a proper young squib; and Silverdale's turned to fresh woods in the shape of Avice Deepcar, one of the girls at the Institute.”