Crenshaw," said Sparrow.
"I neglected to ask if you're not surprised to see me, Mr. Harleston?"
"I am indeed," said Sparrow.
"I regret that it was inconvenient for me to remain longer in your
apartment, Mr. Harleston--and so I exchanged places with your
detective," Crenshaw explained.
"I'm quite content, Mr. Crenshaw," Sparrow replied.
"Yes, certainly, and thank you, Mr. Harleston," Crenshaw smiled. "And
now, with your permission, sir, we shall inspect the contents of your
pockets, to the end that we may find a certain letter that you wot
of--also ourselves."
After the first warning twist, the garrote had been relaxed just enough
to permit Harleston breath sufficient for life, yet not sufficient for
an outcry; moreover, he knew that at the first murmur of a yell the
wrist behind him would turn and he would be throttled into
unconsciousness.
There was nothing to do but be quiet and as complaisant as his captors
wished, and await developments. And the irony of such a
situation--happening in the most crowded and most popular hotel in the
Capital, with hundreds of guests at hand, and scores of servants poised
to obey one's slightest nod--struck him with all the force of its
supreme absurdity. It was but another proof of the proposition that one
is never so alone as in the midst of a throng.
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