She turned back inside the hall to address Maynard, but he had stopped just outside the door and was carefully pocketing the red and green string.
CHAPTER VII
THE FIFTH MAN
DR. HAYDEN threw aside the magazine he had been reading and, making himself more comfortable on the big lounge, puffed contentedly at his cigar as he looked over to where Jim Palmer and Peter Burnham sat playing chess.
“Haven’t you people finished the game yet?” he asked, yawning openly.
His question met with no response from the absorbed players, and curling up on the lounge the tired physician burrowed his head among the sofa cushions and dropped off to sleep. An hour later Siki, Palmer’s Japanese servant, looked inside the room which served Hayden and Palmer, who shared the bachelor apartment, as living room and dining room, and seeing the two men still deep in their game, he withdrew as noiselessly as he had come. He had barely reached the butler’s pantry when the gong on the front door went off with a resounding din. Gliding down the hallway Siki opened the door and admitted Dan Maynard.
“Mr. Palmer is expecting me,” he said, handing his hat and cane to the servant, and stepped across the reception hall. But before he reached the living room the Japanese had gained the doorway.
“The Honorable Mr. Maynard,” he announced and withdrew.
Palmer looked up from the chess table and waved his hand.
“Sit down, Maynard, the game will be over in a minute.”
Burnham, who had not glanced up, moved a rook across the board. “It’s over now; mate in three, Jim,” he announced, and threw himself back in his chair and passed his hand across his hot forehead. “Want your revenge now, Maynard? I can play another game.”