“It did not precede, it followed in this case,” corrected Maynard. His attention was caught by the elevator, which shot upward past their floor, and he paused to wave his hand to Mrs. Burnham, its one passenger.
Outside the apartment Maynard turned again to Mitchell. “Do me a favor, will you; lend me a photograph of the dead man?”
“Sure.” Mitchell accompanied him around the corner and stopped in front of the Burnham house. “Shall I send it here?”
“Y-yes.” Maynard hesitated. “Yes. I have rented permanent quarters;” he glanced at the unopened letter in his hand. “But I’ll be at the Burnhams’ a day longer. Don’t forget, Mitchell.”
“I’ll send the photograph by special messenger this afternoon; good-bye, sir,” and Mitchell swung on down the street.
Maynard, while waiting for the Burnhams’ front door to be opened, took out the enclosure in the envelope handed him by Siki. The letterhead bore the firm name of a well known real estate dealer.
“September 19, 1917.
“My dear Mr. Maynard:
“Pursuant to your telephone call this morning, advising us that you would rent Apartment 25 in the Bellevue, we took up the matter with the owner. We regret to inform you that the owner had early this morning leased the apartment to Mrs. Marian Van Ness.
“We understand Mrs. Van Ness plans to furnish and sublet the apartment, therefore we advise that you get in touch with her——”