The night remained very warm and one of
the two windows of the dining room, which was the most homely apartment
in Cray's Folly, was wide open, offering a prospect of sweeping velvet
lawns touched by the magic of the moonlight.
A short silence fell, to be broken by the Colonel.
"Gentlemen," he said, "I trust you do not regret your fishing
excursion?"
"I could cheerfully pass the rest of my days in such ideal
surroundings," replied Paul Harley.
I nodded in agreement.
"But," continued my friend, speaking very deliberately, "I have to
remember that I am here upon business, and that my professional
reputation is perhaps at stake."
He stared very hard at Colonel Menendez.
"I have spoken with your butler, known as Pedro, and with some of the
other servants, and have learned all that there is to be learned about
the person unknown who gained admittance to the house a month ago, and
concerning the wing of a bat, found attached to the door more
recently."
"And to what conclusion have you come?" asked Colonel Menendez,
eagerly.
He bent forward, resting his elbows upon his knees, a pose which he
frequently adopted.
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