“But she spoke with an accent, I suppose.”
“A slight accent—she’d never been long in Germany. But she spoke very well German.”
“That’s what I wanted to be sure of.”
“Then you do know something!” Her voice quavered with eagerness. “Oh, how long before this awful suspense will be over? Every night for weeks I’ve been afraid to turn out my lights and go to sleep.”
“You needn’t be afraid to turn out your lights now,” Vance assured her. “There won’t be any more attempts on your life, Ada.”
She looked at him for a moment searchingly, and something in his manner seemed to hearten her. When we took our leave the color had come back to her cheeks.
Markham was pacing the library restlessly when we arrived home.
“I’ve checked several more points,” Vance announced. “But I’ve missed the important one—the one that would explain the unbelievable hideousness of the thing I’ve unearthed.”
He went directly into the den, and we could hear him telephoning. Returning a few minutes later, he looked anxiously at his watch. Then he rang for Currie and ordered his bag packed for a week’s trip.
“I’m going away, Markham,” he said. “I’m going to travel—they say it broadens the mind. My train departs in less than an hour; and I’ll be away a week. Can you bear to be without me for so long? However, nothing will happen in connection with the Greene case during my absence. In fact, I’d advise you to shelve it temporarily.”