CHAPTER XVII
CLUTTERBUCK'S ODD BEHAVIOUR
Scarcely had the Home Secretary departed when my maid announced that a patient was waiting to see me in my study.
I left Sarakoff sitting tranquilly in the waiting-room and entered the study. A grave, precise, clean-shaven man was standing by the window. He turned as I entered. It was Mr. Clutterbuck.
"So you are Dr. Harden!" he exclaimed.
He stopped and looked confused.
"Yes," I said; "please sit down, Mr. Clutterbuck."
He did so, twisting his hat awkwardly and gazing at the floor.
"I owe you an apology," he said at length. "I came to consult you, little expecting to find that it was you after all—that you were Dr. Harden. I must apologize for my rudeness to you in the tea-shop, but what you said was so extraordinary ... you could not expect me to believe."