CHAPTER LVIII.
HOW STANHOPE CAME BACK.
Again we are in the office of the Chief of the detectives; in his private office, where he sits alone, looking bored and uncomfortable.
“Everybody late,” he mutters, “and I hoped Follingsbee would come first.”
He consults his watch, and finds that it is four o’clock. Four o’clock, and his interviews with the lawyer, the Australian, and the Englishman, yet to come.
Ten minutes more of waiting. Then the boy enters to announce Messrs. Parks and Ainsworth.
The Chief rises to receive them, and accepts their excuses in silence.
“We drove about the city,” says Walter Parks, “to pass away a portion of the time. An accident to our vehicle detained us.”
Then the two men sit down and look expectantly at the Chief.
“Mr. Ainsworth,” he says gravely, “I have news for you of Thomas Uliman and his wife; bad news, I regret to say.”