Nothing in the physician's countenance betrayed the slightest weariness. He examined numerous documents spread out on the desk, and also wrote a letter which he sealed by lighting a candle and melting some wax. He lingered a good twenty minutes afterwards, then finally put out the lights and left the room.
The room was now in total darkness. The journalist and the detective listened a few moments longer as a precaution, but nothing happened to break the hush of the waning night.
Half an hour more and the outlines of the two would be visible on the thin curtains. It was high time to be off.
Fandor and Juve rose with difficulty to their feet, so cramped were their legs from the enforced rigidity.
"What now?" asked Fandor.
"Listen!" Juve abruptly gripped the other's arm as a fresh noise came to their ears. This time it was not the footsteps of a man walking carelessly, but weird creakings, sly gropings. The noise stopped, began again and again stopped. Where did it come from?
"This room is a mass of hangings," muttered Juve.
"It's impossible to locate those sounds or determine their origin."
"You would suppose," began Fandor——
But he stopped short. The door had opened, the light was switched on and Doctor Chaleck appeared once more, probably disturbed in his sleep by the mysterious noises.