"
He gingerly took up the bat wing from the arm of his chair where he had
placed it after a detailed examination.
"It seems to be pretty certain," he said, "that this thing is the wing
of a Desmodus or Vampire Bat. Now, according to our authority"--he
touched a work which lay open on the other arm of his chair--"these are
natives of tropical America, therefore the presence of a living vampire
bat in Surrey is not to be anticipated. I am personally satisfied,
however, that this unpleasant fragment has been preserved in some way."
"You mean that it is part of a specimen from someone's collection?"
"Quite possibly. But even a collection of such bats would be quite a
novelty. I don't know that I can recollect one outside the Museums. To
follow this bat wing business further: there was one very curious point
in the Colonel's narrative. You recollect his reference to a native
girl who had betrayed certain information to the manager of the
estate?"
I nodded rapidly.
"A bat wing was affixed to the wall of her hut and she died, according
to our informant, of a lingering sickness. Now this lingering sickness
might have been anaemia, and anaemia may be induced, either in man or
beast, by frequent but unsuspected visits of a Vampire Bat.
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