“But he saw me in the buffet at Calais, and, turning, hurried away,” Langton said. “In other circumstances he would certainly have raised his hat in greeting; he is a most polite, tactful man.”
“Well, sir,” laughed the officer, “I don’t think we can assist you any further. Just go out, 403,” he added, turning to the constable, “and tell the two men in the park that we’ve finished, and they can go back to their beats.”
“Very well, sir,” responded the man, replacing his truncheon as he left the room.
Both inspector and sergeant soon followed him, leaving Langton and myself alone.
After the front door had closed, we returned to the big dining-room.
“Well,” he exclaimed, “I don’t know what your theory is, Mr Holford, but I’m absolutely certain that something has happened here. There is some crooked circumstance,” and I saw deep lines of thought upon his shrewd, clever, clean-shaven countenance.
Why dare not Kirk meet him?
“The absence of everybody is certainly mysterious,” I admitted.
“Doubly mysterious when one takes into consideration the fact that the doors leading into the laboratory have been forced,” he remarked quickly. “Three persons dined here to-night. The Professor entertained a man-friend. Who was he?”
“That we can only discover when the servants return,” I said.