He did so, and she looked round, slightly dazzled by the sunlight which streamed into the room. Nothing seemed to be changed; and she failed to understand what his manœuvres meant. Then her eyes ranged over the cabinet and something caught her attention.
“You’ve been playing some trick on me, Mr. Westenhanger,” she said, indignantly. “I’m sure I opened the right-hand door of the cabinet, and now it’s the left-hand one that’s open!”
Westenhanger, as soon as she began to speak, had crossed the room swiftly and closed the door leading into the corridor completely. He turned back with a vexed expression on his face.
“My fault entirely,” he said. “I ought to have shut that door. You nearly gave the show away to Douglas. Didn’t I tell you it was obvious?”
Eileen looked from him to the cabinet and then back again to his face, which showed a mixture of triumph and amusement.
“But it isn’t obvious,” she protested. “I don’t understand what you’re driving at.”
“We’ll repeat the whole performance with Douglas, and you’ll see the point.”
He went to the door again and summoned the picket.
“Douglas, come inside. I strongly recommend to your attention the genuine antique carving on the back of this door. It’s well worthy of study. Study it.”
Douglas Fairmile obediently stepped into the room, faced the door and fixed his eye on the carving.