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肩書を与える: The Door With Seven Locks
Author: Edgar Wallace
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Language: English
Date first 地位，任命するd:  Aug 2012
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The Door With Seven Locks

by

Edgar Wallace

Published by Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1926

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

刑事 ツバメ's last 公式の／役人 職業 (as he believed) was to pull in Lew Pheeney, who was 手配中の，お尋ね者 in 関係 with the Helborough 銀行強盗. He 設立する Lew in a little Soho cafe, just as he was finishing his coffee.

"What's the idea, 陸軍大佐?" asked Lew, almost genially, as he got his hat.

"The 視察官 wants to talk to you about that Helborough 職業," said 刑事.

Lew's nose wrinkled in contempt.

"Helborough grandmothers!" he said scornfully. "I'm out of that bank 商売／仕事—thought you knew it. What are you doing in the 軍隊, ツバメ? They told me that you'd run into money and had やめる."

"I'm quitting. You're my last bit of 商売／仕事."

"Too bad you're 落ちるing 負かす／撃墜する on the last （競技場の）トラック一周!" grinned Lew. "I've got forty-five 井戸／弁護士席-oiled アリバイs. I'm surprised at you, ツバメ. You know I don't 'blow' banks; locks are my speciality—"

"What were you doing at ten o'clock on Tuesday night?"

A 幅の広い smile illuminated the homely 直面する of the 夜盗，押し込み強盗.

"If I told you, you'd think I was lying."

"Give me a chance," pleaded 刑事, his blue 注目する，もくろむs twinkling.

Lew did not reply at once. He seemed to be pondering the dangers of too 広大な／多数の／重要な frankness. But when he had seen all 味方するs of the 事柄, he spoke the truth.

"I was doing a 私的な 職業—a 職業 I don't want to talk about. It was dirty, but honest."

"And were you 井戸／弁護士席 paid?" asked his captor, polite but incredulous.

"I was—I got one hundred and fifty 続けざまに猛撃するs on account. That makes you jump, but it is the truth. I was 選ぶing locks, certainly the toughest locks I've ever struck, and it was a 肉親，親類d of horrible 職業 I wouldn't do again for a car-負担 of money. You don't believe me, but I can 証明する that I spent the night at the 王室の 武器, Chichester, that I was there at eight o'clock to dinner and at eleven o'clock to sleep. So you can forget all that Helborough bank stuff. I know the ギャング（団） that did it, and you know 'em too, and we don't change cards."

They kept Lew in the 独房s all night whilst 調査s were 追求するd. Remarkably enough, he had not only stayed at the 王室の 武器 at Chichester, but had stayed in his own 指名する; and it was true that at a ４半期/4分の1 to eleven, before the Hedborough bank robbers had left the 前提s, he was taking a drink in his room, sixty miles away. So 当局 解放（する）d Lew in the morning and 刑事 went into breakfast with him, because, between the professional どろぼう-taker and the professional 夜盗，押し込み強盗 there is no real ill-feeling, and Sub-視察官 Richard ツバメ was almost as popular with the 犯罪の classes as he was at police （警察，軍隊などの）本部.

"売春婦, Mr ツバメ, I'm not going to tell you anything more than I've already told you," said Lew good-humouredly. "And when you call me a liar, I'm not so much as 傷つける in my feelings. I got a hundred an' fifty 続けざまに猛撃するs, and I'd have got a thousand if I'd pulled it off. You can guess all 一連の会議、交渉／完成する it, but you'll never guess 権利."

刑事 ツバメ was 注目する，もくろむing him 熱心に. "You've got a good story in your mind—流出／こぼす it," he said.

He waited suggestively, but Lew Pheeney shook his 長，率いる. "I'm not telling. The story would give away a man who's not a good fellow, and not one I admire; but I can't let my personal feelings get the better of me, and you'll have to go on guessing. And I'm not lying, I'll tell you how it happened." He gulped 負かす／撃墜する a cup of hot coffee and 押し進めるd cup and saucer away from him. "I don't know this fellow who asked me to do the work—not 本人自身で. He's been in trouble for something or other, but that's no 商売／仕事 of 地雷. One night he met me, introduced himself, and I went to his house—brr!" he shivered. "ツバメ, a crook is a pretty clean man—at least, all the crooks I know; and thieving's just a game with two players; me and the police. If they snooker me, good luck to 'em! If I can （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 them, good luck to me! But there's some dirt that makes me sick, just makes my stomach turn over. When he told me the 職業 he 手配中の，お尋ね者 me for, I thought he was joking, and my first idea was to turn it in 権利 away. But I'm just the most curious creature that ever lived, and it was a new experience, so, after a lot of think, I said 'Yes'. Mind you, there was nothing dishonest in it. All he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to do was to take a peep at something. What was behind it I don't know. I don't want to talk about it, but the locks （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 me."

"A lawyer's 安全な?" 示唆するd the 利益／興味d 探偵，刑事, The other shook his 長，率いる. He turned the 支配する 突然の; spoke of his 計画（する）s—he was leaving for the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs to join his brother, who was an honest 建設業者.

"We're both going out of the game together, ツバメ," he smiled. "You're too good a man for a policeman, and I'm too much of a gentleman to be on the crook. I shouldn't be surprised if we met one of these days."

刑事 went 支援する to the Yard to make, as he thought, a final 報告（する）／憶測 to his 即座の 長，指導者. Captain Sneed 匂いをかぐd.

"That Lew Pheeney couldn't 落ちる straight," he said; "if you dropped him 負かす／撃墜する a 井戸／弁護士席, he'd wear away the brickwork. Honest robber! He's got that out of a 調書をとる／予約する. You think you've finished work, I suppose?" 刑事 nodded.

"Going to buy a country house and be a gentleman. Ride to hounds and take duchesses into dinner—what a hell of a life for a grown man!"

刑事 ツバメ grinned at the sneer. He 手配中の，お尋ね者 very little 説得／派閥 to 身を引く his 辞職; already he was repenting—and, にもかかわらず the attraction of authorship which beckoned ahead, he would have given a lot of money to 解任する the letter he had sent to the commissioner.

"It's a queer thing how money 廃虚s a man," said Captain Sneed sadly. "Now if I had a six-人物／姿／数字 遺産／遺物 I should want to do nothing."

His assistant might sneer in turn.

"You want to do nothing, anyway," he said; "you're lazy, Sneed—the laziest man who ever filled a 議長，司会を務める at Scotland Yard."

The fat man, who literally filled and 洪水d the padded office 議長，司会を務める in which he half sat and half lay, a picture of inertia, raised his reproachful 注目する，もくろむs to his companion.

"Insubordination," he murmured. "You're not out of the 軍隊 till tomorrow—call me 'sir' and be respectful. I hate reminding you that you're a paltry sub-視察官 and that I'm as 近づく 存在 a superintendent as makes no difference. It would sound snobbish. I'm not lazy, I'm lethargic. It's a sort of 病気."

"You're fat because you're lazy, and you're lazy because you're fat," 主張するd the lean-直面するd young man. "It's a sort of vicious circle. Besides, you're rich enough to retire if you 手配中の，お尋ね者."

Captain Sneed 一打／打撃d his chin reflectively. He was a 巨大（な） of a man, with shoulders of an ox and the 高さ of a Grenadier, but he was admittedly inert. He sighed ひどく, and, groping in a desk basket, produced a blue paper. "You're a ありふれた 非軍事の tomorrow—but my slave today. Come along to Bellingham Library; there has been a （民事の）告訴 about stolen 調書をとる／予約するs."

Sub-視察官 刑事 ツバメ groaned.

"It's not romantic, I 収容する／認める," said his superior with a slow, 幅の広い smile; "kleptomania belongs to the dust and 破片 of 探偵，刑事 work, but it is good for your soul. It will remind you, whilst you're loafing on the money you didn't earn, that there are a few thousand of your poor comrades wearin' their feet into ankles with fool 調査s like this!"

刑事 (or '悪賢い' as he was called for 確かな 推論する／理由s) wondered as he walked slowly 負かす／撃墜する the long 回廊（地帯） whether he was glad or sorry that police work lay behind him and that on the morrow he might pass the most exalted 公式の／役人 without saluting. He was a '窃盗罪 man', the cleverest taker of thieves the Yard had known. Sneed often said that he had the mind of a どろぼう, and meant this as a compliment. He certainly had the 技術. There was a memorable night when, 勧めるd thereto by the highest police 公式の／役人 in London, he had 選ぶd the pocket of a 国務長官, taken his watch, his pocket-調書をとる／予約する and his 私的な papers, and not even the 専門家 選挙立会人s saw him 成し遂げる the fell 行為.

刑事 ツバメ （機の）カム to the Yard from Canada, where his father had been 知事 of a 刑務所，拘置所. He was neither a good 後見人 of 犯罪のs or 青年. 刑事 had the run of the 刑務所，拘置所, and could take a stick pin from a man's cravat before he had mastered the mysteries of algebra. Peter du Bois, a lifer, taught him to open almost any 肉親，親類d of door with a bent hairpin; Lew Andrevski, a たびたび（訪れる） 訪問者 to Port Stuart, made a 特に small pack of cards out of the covers of the chapel 祈り 調書をとる／予約するs; in order that the lad should be taught to 隠す three cards in each tiny palm. If he had not been innately honest, the tuition might easily have 廃虚d him.

"Dicky's all 権利—he can't know too much of that crook stuff," said the indolent Captain ツバメ, when his horrified 親族s expostulated at the 汚職 of the motherless boy. "The boys like him—he's going into the police and the education's 価値（がある） a million!"

Straight of 団体／死体, （疑いを）晴らす-注目する，もくろむd, immensely sane, 刑事 ツバメ （機の）カム happily through a unique period of 実験（する） to the office. The war brought him to England, a stripling with a 記録，記録的な／記録する of good work behind him. Scotland Yard （人命などを）奪う，主張するd him, and he had the distinction of 存在 the only member of the 犯罪の 調査 Department who had been 任命するd without going through a probationary period of patrol work.

As he went 負かす／撃墜する the 石／投石する stairs, he was overtaken by the third commissioner.

"Hello, ツバメ! You're leaving us tomorrow? Bad luck! It is a thousand pities you have money. We're losing a good man. What are you going to do?"

刑事 smiled ruefully.

"I don't know—I'm beginning to think I've made a mistake in leaving at all."

The 'old man' nodded.

"Do anything except lecture," he said, "and, for the Lord's sake, don't start a 私的な 機関! In America 探偵，刑事 機関s do wonderful things—in England their work is 制限するd to thinking up 証拠 for 離婚s. A man asked me only today if I could recommend—"

He stopped suddenly at the foot of the stairs and 見解（をとる）d 刑事 with a new 利益／興味.

"By, Jove! I wonder...! Do you know Havelock, the lawyer?"

刑事 shook his 長，率いる.

"He's a pretty good man. His office is somewhere in Lincoln's Inn Fields. You'll find its exact position in the telephone directory. I met him at lunch and he asked me—"

He paused, 診察するing the younger man with a 思索的な 注目する，もくろむ.

"You're the very man—it is curious I did not think of you. He asked me if I could find him a reliable 私立探偵, and I told him that such things did not 存在する outside the pages of fiction."

"It doesn't 存在する as far as I'm 関心d," smiled 刑事. "The last thing in the world I want to do is start a 探偵，刑事 機関."

"And you're 権利, my boy," said the commissioner. "I could never 尊敬（する）・点 you if you did. As a 事柄 of fact, you're the very man for the 職業," he went on, a little inconsistently. "Will you go along and see Havelock, and tell him I sent you? I'd like you to help him if you could. Although he isn't a friend of 地雷, I know him and he's a very pleasant fellow."

"What is the 職業?" asked the young man, by no means enthralled at the prospect.

"I don't know," was the reply. "It may be one that you couldn't 請け負う. But I'd like you to see him—I half 約束d him that I would recommend somebody. I have an idea that it is in 関係 with a （弁護士の）依頼人 of his who is giving him a little trouble. You would 大いに 強いる me, ツバメ, if you saw this gentleman."

The last thing in the world 刑事 ツバメ had in mind was the 移動 of his 探偵，刑事 activities from Scotland Yard to the sphere of 私的な 機関s; but he had been something of a 被保護者 of the third commissioner, and there was no 推論する／理由 in the world why he should not see the lawyer. He said as much.

"Good," said the commissioner. "I'll phone him this afternoon and tell him you'll come along and see him. You may be able to help him."

"I hope so, sir," said 刑事 mendaciously.

CHAPTER II

He 追求するd his leisurely way to the Bellingham Library, one of the 会・原則s of London that is known only to a select few. No novel or 容積／容量 of sparkling reminiscence has a place upon the 棚上げにするs of this 会・原則, 設立するd a hundred years ago to 供給する scientists and litterateurs with an 適切な時期 of 協議するing 容積／容量s which were unprocurable save at the British Museum. On the four 床に打ち倒すs which 構成するd the building, fat 容積／容量s of German philosophy, learned and, to the layman, unintelligible 調書をとる／予約するs on 科学の phenomena, obscure treatises on almost every 肉親，親類d of uninteresting 支配する, stood shoulder to shoulder upon their sedate 棚上げにするs.

John Bellingham, who in the eighteenth century had 設立するd this 交流 of learning, had 供給するd in the 信用 行為s that 'two intelligent 女性（の）s, preferably in indigent circumstances', should form part of the staff, and it was to one of these that 刑事 was 行為／行うd.

In a small, high-天井d room, redolent of old leather, a girl sat at a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, engaged in とじ込み／提出するing 索引 cards.

"I am from Scotland Yard," 刑事 introduced himself. "I understand that some of your 調書をとる／予約するs have been stolen?"

He was looking at the packed 棚上げにするs as he spoke, for he was not 利益／興味d in 女性（の）s, intelligent or stupid, indigent or 豊富な. The only thing he noticed about her was that she wore 黒人／ボイコット and that her hair was a golden-brown and was 小衝突d into a fringe over her forehead. In a vague way he supposed that most girls had hair of golden-brown, and be had a 薄暗い idea that fringes were popular の中で working-class ladies.

"Yes," she said 静かに, "a 調書をとる／予約する was stolen from this room whilst I was at 昼食. It was not very 価値のある—a German 容積／容量 written by Haeckel called 'Generelle Morphologic'."

She opened a drawer and took out an 索引 card and laid it before him, and he read the words without 存在 大いに enlightened.

"Who was here in your absence?" he asked.

"My assistant, a girl 指名するd Helder."

"Did any of your 加入者s come into this room during that time?"

"Several," she replied. "I have their 指名するs, but most of them are above 疑惑. The only 訪問者 we had who is not a 加入者 of the library was a gentleman 指名するd Stalletti, an Italian doctor, who called to make 調査s as to subscription."

"He gave his 指名する?" asked 刑事.

"No," said the girl to his surprise; "but 行方不明になる Helder 認めるd him; she had seen his portrait somewhere. I should have thought you would have remembered his 指名する."

"Why on earth should I remember his 指名する, my good girl?" asked 刑事 a little irritably.

"Why on earth shouldn't you, my good man?" she 需要・要求するd coolly, and at that moment 刑事 ツバメ was aware of her, in the sense that she 現れるd from the background against which his life moved and became a personality.

Her 注目する，もくろむs were grey and 始める，決める wide apart; her nose straight and small; the mouth was a little wide—and she certainly had golden-brown hair.

"I beg your 容赦!" he laughed. "As a 事柄 of fact"—he had a trick of 信用／信任 which could be very deceptive—"I'm not at all 利益／興味d in this infernal 強盗. I'm leaving the police 軍隊 tomorrow."

"There will be 広大な／多数の／重要な joy amongst the 犯罪の classes," she said politely, and when he saw the light of laughter in her 注目する，もくろむs, his heart went out to her.

"You have a sense of humour," he smiled.

"You mean by that, that I've a sense of your humour," she answered quickly. "I have, or I should very much 反対する to 存在 called 'my good girl' even by an officer of the 法律"—she looked at his card again —"even with the 階級 of sub-視察官."

There was a 議長，司会を務める at his 手渡す. 刑事 drew it out and sat 負かす／撃墜する unbidden.

"I abase myself for my rudeness, and 謙虚に beg （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） on the 支配する of Signor Stalletti. The 指名するs means no more to me than John Smith—the favourite pseudonym of all gentlemen caught in the 行為／法令／行動する of breaking through the pantry window in the middle of the night."

For a second she 調査するd him 厳粛に, her red lips pursed. "And you're a 探偵，刑事?" she said, in a hushed 発言する／表明する. "One of those almost human 存在s who 保護する us while we sleep!"

He was helpless with laughter.

"I 降伏する!" He put up his 手渡すs. "And now, having put me in my place, which I 収容する／認める is a pretty lowly one, perhaps you will pass across a little （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） about the purloined literature."

"I've no （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） to pass across." She leaned 支援する in her 議長，司会を務める, looking at him interestedly. "The 調書をとる／予約する was here at two o'clock; it was not here at half past two—there may be 指紋s on the shelf, but I 疑問 it, because we keep three charladies for the 単独の 目的 of きれいにする up 指紋s."

"But who is Stalletti?"

She nodded slowly. "That was why I 表明するd a little wonder about your 存在 a 探偵，刑事," she said. "My assistant tells me that he is known to the police. Would you like to see his 調書をとる／予約する?"

"Has he written a 調書をとる／予約する?" he asked in 本物の surprise. She got up, went out of the room and returned with a thin 容積／容量, plainly bound. He took the 容積／容量 in his 手渡す and read the 肩書を与える.

"New Thoughts on 建設的な Biology, by Antonio Stalletti." Turning the closely printed leaves, broken almost at every page by diagrams and 統計に基づく （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs, he asked: "Why did he get into trouble with the police? I didn't know that it was a 犯罪の offence to 令状 a 調書をとる／予約する."

"It is," she emphatically; "but not invariably punished as such. I understand that the 法律 took no exception to Mr Stalletti 存在 an author; and that his offence was in 関係 with vivisection or something 平等に horrid."

"What is all this about?" He 手渡すd the 調書をとる／予約する 支援する to her.

"It is about human 存在s," she said solemnly, "like you and me; and how much better and happier they would be if, instead of 存在 mollycoddled—I think that is the 科学の 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語—they were 許すd to run wild in a 支持を得ようと努めるd and fed on a generous diet of nuts."

"Oh, vegetarian stuff!" said 悪賢い contemptuously.

"Not 正確に／まさに vegetarian. But perhaps you would like to become a 加入者 and read it for yourself?" And then she dropped her トン of banter. "The truth is, Mr—er—" she looked at his card again—"ツバメ, we are really not worried about the loss of this 調書をとる／予約する of Haeckel's. It is already 取って代わるd, and if the 長官 hadn't been such a goop he wouldn't have 報告（する）／憶測d the 事柄 to the police. And I beg of you"—she raised a 警告 finger—"if you 会合，会う our 長官 that you will not repeat my opinion of him. Now please tell me something that will make my flesh creep. I've never met a 探偵，刑事 before, I may never 会合，会う one again."

刑事 put 負かす／撃墜する the 調書をとる／予約する and rose to his seventy-two インチs. "Madam," he said, "I have not 召集（する）d courage to ask your 指名する, I deserve all the roasting you have given me, but as you are strong, be 慈悲の. Where does Stalletti live?"

She 選ぶd up the 調書をとる／予約する and turned 支援する the cover to a preface.

"Gallows Cottage. That sounds a little creepy doesn't it? It is in Sussex."

"I can read that for myself," he said, nettled, and she became 即時に penitent.

"You see, we aren't used to these exciting interludes, and a police visitation gets into one's 長，率いる. I really don't think the 調書をとる／予約する's 価値（がある） bothering about, but I suppose my word doesn't go very far."

"Was anybody here besides Stalletti?" She showed him a 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of four 指名するs. "Except Mr Stalletti, I don't think anybody is under 疑惑. As a 事柄 of fact, the other three people were 厳しく historical, and biology wouldn't 利益／興味 them in the slightest degree. It could not have happened if I had been here, because I'm 自然に rather observant."

She stopped suddenly and looked at the desk. The 調書をとる／予約する that had been lying there a few seconds before had disappeared. "Did you take it?" she asked.

"Did you see me take it?" he challenged.

"I certainly didn't. I could have sworn it was there a second ago.

He took it from under his coat and 手渡すd it to her. "I like observant people," he said.

"But how did you do it?" She was mystified. "I had my 手渡す on the 調書をとる／予約する and I only took my 注目する，もくろむs off for a second."

"One of these days I'll come along and teach you," he said with portentous gravity, and was in the street before he remembered that clever as he was, he had not 後継するd in learning the 指名する of this very 有能な young lady.

Sybil Lansdown walked to the window which 命令（する）d a 見解（をとる） of the square and watched him till he was out of sight, a half smile on her lips and the light of 勝利 in her 注目する，もくろむs. Her first inclination was to dislike him intensely; she hated self-満足させるd men. And yet he wasn't 正確に／まさに that. She wondered if she would ever 会合，会う him again—there were so few amusing people in the world, and she felt that—she took up the card—Sub-視察官 Richard ツバメ might be very amusing indeed.

CHAPTER III

刑事 was piqued to the extent of wishing to 新たにする the 遭遇（する）, and there was only one excuse for that. He went to the garage 近づく his flat, took out his dingy Buick and drove 負かす／撃墜する to Gallows Hill. It was not an 平易な 追求（する），探索（する）, because Gallows Hill is not 示すd on the 地図／計画する and only had a 地元の significance; and it was not until he was on the 辛勝する／優位 of Selford Manor that he learnt from a road-mender that the cottage was on the main road and that he had come about ten miles out of his way.

It was late in the afternoon when he drew abreast of the broken 塀で囲む and hanging gate behind which was the habitation of Dr Stalletti. The 少しのd-grown 運動 turned 突然の to 明らかにする／漏らす a mean-looking house, which he thought was glorified by the 指名する of cottage. So many of his friends had 'cottages' which were mansions, and 'little places' which were very little indeed, when he had 推定する／予想するd to find a more lordly dwelling.

There was no bell, and he knocked at the 天候-stained door for five minutes before he had an answer. And then he heard a shuffling of feet on 明らかにする boards, the clang of a chain 存在 除去するd, and the door opened a few インチs.

Accustomed as he was to unusual spectacles, he gaped at the man who was 明らかにする／漏らすd in the space between door and lintel. A long, yellow 直面する, 深く，強烈に lined and criss-crossed with innumerable lines till it looked like an 古代の yellow apple; a 黒人／ボイコット 耐えるd that half-covered its owner's waistcoat; a skull-cap; a pair of 黒人／ボイコット, malignant 注目する，もくろむs blinking at these were his first impressions. "Dr Stalletti?" he asked.

"That is my 指名する." The 発言する／表明する was 厳しい, with just a suggestion of a foreign accent. "Did you wish to speak with me? Yes? That is 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の. I do not receive 訪問者s."

He seemed in some hesitation as to what he should do, and then he turned his 長，率いる and spoke to somebody over his shoulder, and in doing so 明らかにする／漏らすd to the 探偵，刑事 a young, rosy, and 一連の会議、交渉／完成する-直面するd man, very newly and smartly dressed. At the sight of 刑事 the man stepped 支援する quickly out of sight.

"Good-morning, Thomas," said 刑事 ツバメ politely. "This is an 予期しない 楽しみ." The bearded man growled something and opened the door wide.

Tommy Cawler was indeed a sight for sore 注目する，もくろむs. 刑事 ツバメ had seen him in many circumstances, but never so beautifully and perfectly arrayed. His linen was speckless; his 着せる／賦与するs were the 製品 of a West End tailor.

"Good-morning, Mr ツバメ." Tommy was in no sense abashed, "I just happened to call 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to see my old friend Stalletti."

刑事 gazed at him admiringly. "You 簡単に ooze 繁栄! What is the game now, Tommy?"

Tommy の近くにd his 注目する，もくろむs, a picture of patience and 辞職.

"I've got a good 職業 now, Mr ツバメ—straight as a die! No more trouble for me, thank you. 井戸／弁護士席, I'll be 説 goodbye, doctor."

He shook 手渡すs a little too vigorously with the bearded man and stepped past him and 負かす／撃墜する the steps.

"Wait a moment, Tommy. I'd like to have a few words with you. Can you spare me a moment whilst I see Dr Stalletti?"

The man hesitated, 発射 a furtive ちらりと見ること at the bearded 人物／姿／数字 in the doorway.

"All 権利," he said ungraciously. "But don't be long, I've got an 約束／交戦. Thank you for the 薬／医学, doctor," he 追加するd loudly.

刑事 was not deceived by so transparent a bluff. He followed the doctor into the hall. さらに先に the strange man did not 招待する him.

"You are police, yes?" he said, when 刑事 produced his card. "How 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の and bizarre! To me the police have not come for a long time—such trouble for a man because he 実験s for science on a leetle dog! Such a fuss and nonsense! Now you ask me—what?"

In a few words 刑事 explained his errand, and to his amazement the strange man answered すぐに:

"Yes, the 調書をとる／予約する, I have it! It was on the shelf. I needed it, so I took it!"

"But, my good man," said the staggered 探偵，刑事, "you're not 許すd to walk off with other people's 所有物／資産／財産 because you want it!"

"It is a library. It is for lending, is it not? I 願望（する）d to borrow, so I took it with me. There was no concealment. I placed it under my arm, I 解除するd my hat to the young signora, and that was all. Now I have finished with it and it may go 支援する. Haeckel is a fool; his 結論s are absurd, his theories 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の and bizarre." (Evidently this was a favourite phrase of his.) "To you they would seem very dull and commonplace, but to me—" He shrugged his shoulders and uttered a little cackle of sound which 刑事 gathered was ーするつもりであるd to be laughter.

The 探偵，刑事 配達するd a little lecture on the systems of 貸付金ing libraries, and with the 調書をとる／予約する under his arm went out to 再結合させる the waiting Mr Cawler. He had at least an excuse for returning to the library, he thought with satisfaction.

"Now, Cawler"—he began without superfluous 予選s and his 発言する／表明する was peremptory—"I want to know something about you. Is Stalletti a friend of yours?"

"He's my doctor," said the man coolly.

He had a merry blue 注目する，もくろむ, and he was one of the few people who had passed through his 手渡すs for whom 刑事 had a 本物の liking. Tommy Cawler had been a 悪名高い 'knocker-off' of モーター-cars, and a 'knocker-off' is one who, finding an unattended machine, steps blithely into the driver's seat and is gone before the owner 行方不明になるs his machine. Tommy's two 有罪の判決s had both been 予定 to the unremitting 調査s of the man who now questioned him.

"I've got a 正規の／正選手 職業; I'm chauffeur to Mr Bertram Cody," said Tom virtuously. "I'm that honest now, I wouldn't touch anything crook, not to save my life."

"Where does Mr Cody live when he's at home?" asked 刑事, unconvinced.

"Weald House. It is only a mile from here; you can step over and ask if you like."

"Does he know about your—sad past?" 刑事 questioned delicately.

"He does; I told him everything. He says I am the best chauffeur he ever had."

刑事 診察するd the man carefully.

"Is this er—er—uniform that your 雇用者 prefers?"

"I'm going on holiday, to tell you the truth," said Mr Cawler. "The 知事 is pretty good about holidays. Here's the 演説（する）／住所 if you want it."

He took an envelope from his pocket 演説（する）／住所d to himself 'c/o Bertram Cody, Esq., Weald House, South Weald, Sussex.'

"They 扱う／治療する me like a lord," he said, not without truth. "And a more perfect lady and gentleman than Mr and Mrs Cody you'd never hope to see."

"罰金," said the 懐疑的な Richard. "許す these embarrassing questions. Tommy, but in my 有望な lexicon there is no such word as '改革（する）'."

"I don't know your friend, but you've got it wrong," said Tommy hazily.

ツバメ 申し込む／申し出d him a 解除する, but this was 拒絶する／低下するd, and the 探偵，刑事 went 支援する alone to London, and, to his annoyance, arrived at the library half an hour after the girl had left.

It was too late, he thought, to see Mr Havelock of Lincoln's Inn Fields, and in point of fact the recollection of that 約束／交戦 brought with it a feeling of 不快. His 計画（する）s were already made. He ーするつもりであるd spending a month in Germany before he returned to the work which he had 約束d himself: a 容積／容量 on 'Thieves and Their Methods', which he thought would pleasantly 占領する the next year.

刑事, without 存在 極端に 豊富な, was in a very comfortable position. Sneed had spoken of a six-人物／姿／数字 遺産／遺物, and was nearly 権利, although the 人物／姿／数字s were dollars, for his uncle had been a successful cattle fanner of Alberta. おもに he was leaving the police 軍隊 because he was 近づくing 昇進／宣伝, and felt it 不公平な to stand in the way of other men who were more in need of 階級 than himself. Police work amused him. It was his hobby and 占領／職業, and he did not care to 熟視する／熟考する what life would be without that 利益／興味.

He had turned to go into his flat when he heard a 発言する／表明する あられ／賞賛する him, and he turned to see the man whom he had 解放（する）d that morning crossing the road in some haste. Ordinarily, Lew Pheeney was the coolest of men, but now he was almost incoherent.

"Can I see you, 悪賢い?" he asked, a quiver in his 発言する／表明する, which 刑事 did not remember having heard before.

"Surely you can see me. Why? Is anything wrong?"

"I don't know." The man looked up and 負かす／撃墜する the street nervously. "I'm 存在 追跡するd."

"Not by the police—that I can 断言する," said 刑事.

"Police!" said the man impatiently. "Do you think that would worry me? No, it's the fellow I spoke to you about. There's something wrong in that 商売／仕事. 悪賢い, I kept one thing from you. While I was working I saw this guy slip a gun out of his hip and 減少（する） it into his overcoat pocket. He stood 持つ／拘留するing it all the time I was working, and it struck me then that, if I'd got that door open, there'd have been no chance of my ever touching the thousand. Half way through I said I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to go out, and, once outside, I bolted. There was something that chased me—God knows what it was; a sort of animal. And I hadn't got a gun—I never carry one in this country, because a 裁判官 piles it on if you're caught with a barker in your pocket."

All the time they had been speaking they were passing through the vestibule and up the stairs to 悪賢い's flat, and, without 招待, the 夜盗，押し込み強盗 followed him into the apartment.

He led the man into his 熟考する／考慮する and shut the door. "Now, Lew, let me hear the truth—what was the work you were doing on Tuesday night?"

Lew looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the room, out of the window, everywhere except at 刑事. Then: "I was trying to open a dead man's tomb!" he said in a low 発言する／表明する.

CHAPTER IV

There was a silence of a minute. 刑事 looked at the man, hardly believing his ears.

"Trying to open a dead man's tomb?" he repeated. "Now sit 負かす／撃墜する and tell me all about it, Lew."

"I can't—yet. I'm 脅すd," said the other doggedly. "This man is hell, and I'd as soon 直面する the devil as go through another night like I had on Tuesday."

"Who is the man?"

"I won't tell you that," said the other sullenly. "I might at the end, but I won't tell you now. If I can find a 静かな place I'm going to 令状 it all out, and have it on paper in 事例／患者 anything happens to me."

He was 明白に 労働ing under a sense of unusual excitement, and 刑事, who had known him for many years, both in England and in Canada, was amazed to see this usually phlegmatic man in such a 条件 of 神経s.

He 辞退するd to take the dinner that the old housekeeper served, contenting himself with a whisky and soda, and 刑事 ツバメ thought it wise not to 試みる／企てる to question him any その上の.

"Why don't you stay here tonight and 令状 your story? I won't ask you for it, but you'll be as 安全な here as anywhere."

That idea seemed already to have occurred to the man, for he obeyed 即時に, and 刑事 gathered that he had such 計画／陰謀 in his mind. Diner was nearly through when the 探偵，刑事 was called away to the phone. "Is that Mr ツバメ?" The 発言する／表明する was that of a stranger. "Yes," replied 刑事.

"I am Mr Havelock. The Commissioner sent me a message this evening, and I was 推定する／予想するing you to call at my office. I wonder if you could see me tonight?" There was 苦悩 and 緊急 in the トン.

"Why, surely," said 刑事. "Where are you living?"

"907 Acada Road, St John's 支持を得ようと努めるd. I am very 近づく to you; a taxi would get you here in five minutes. Have you dined? I was afraid you had. Will you come up to coffee in about a ４半期/4分の1 of an hour?"

刑事 ツバメ had agreed before he realized that his guest and his strange story had to be considered.

The startling 告示 of Lew Pheeney had changed his 計画（する）s. Yet it might be advisable to leave the man to 令状 his story. He called his housekeeper aside and 解任するd her for the night. Pheeney, alone in the flat, might 令状 his story without interruption.

The man readily agreed to his suggestion, seemed, in fact, relieved at the prospect of 存在 alone, and a ４半期/4分の1 of an hour later Mr ツバメ was （犯罪の）一味ing the bell of an 課すing house that stood in its acre of garden in the best part of St Johns 支持を得ようと努めるd. An 年輩の butler took his suck and hat and 行為／行うd him into a long dining-room, furnished with 静かな taste. Evidently Mr Havelock was something of a connoisseur, for of the four pictures that hung on the 塀で囲む, 刑事 正確に placed one as 存在 by Corot, and the big portrait over the carved mantelpiece was undoubtedly a Rembrandt.

The lawyer was dining in 独房監禁 明言する／公表する at the end of a long, polished （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. A glass of red ワイン stood at his 肘, a long, thin cigar was between his teeth. He was a man between fifty and sixty, tall and rather thin. He had the brow and jaw of a 闘士，戦闘機, and his アイロンをかける-grey 味方する-whiskers gave him a 確かな ferocious 外見. 刑事 liked him, for the 注目する，もくろむs behind his horn-rimmed spectacles were very attractive.

"Mr ツバメ, eh?" He half rose and 申し込む／申し出d his 会社／堅い, thin 手渡す. "Sit 負かす／撃墜する. What will you drink? I have a port here that was laid 負かす／撃墜する for princes. Walters, give Mr ツバメ a glass."

He leaned 支援する in his 議長，司会を務める, his lips pursed, and regarded the young man fixedly.

"So you're a 探偵，刑事, eh?" It sounded reminiscent of an experience he had had that morning, and 刑事 grinned. "The commissioner says you're leaving the police 軍隊 tomorrow, and that you want a hobby. By heavens, I'll furnish you a hobby that'll save me a lot of sleepless nights! Walters, serve Mr ツバメ and （疑いを）晴らす out. And I am not to be interrupted. Switch off the phone; I'm not at home to anybody, however important." When the door had の近くにd behind the butler, Mr Havelock rose and began a restless pacing of the room. He had a quick, abrupt, almost offensively brusque manner, jerking out his 宣告，判決s accusatively. "I'm a lawyer—you probably know my 指名する, though I've never been in a police 法廷，裁判所 in my life. I'm very seldom in any 法廷，裁判所 of 法律. I を取り引きする companies and 広い地所s, and I'm trustee for half a dozen, or maybe a dozen, さまざまな charities. I'm the trustee of the Selford 広い地所." He said this with a 確かな 強調, as though he thought that 刑事 would understand the peculiar significance of this. "I'm the trustee of the Selford 広い地所," he said again, "and I wish to heaven I wasn't. Old Lord Selford—not that he was old, except in sin and iniquity, but the late Lord Selford, let me say—left me the 単独の executor of his 所有物／資産／財産 and 後見人 of his wretched child. The late Lord Selford was a very unpleasant, bad-tempered man, half mad, as most of the Selfords have been for 世代s. Do you know Selford Manor?"

刑事 smiled. "Curiously enough, I was on the 辛勝する／優位 of it today. I didn't know there was such a place until this afternoon, and I had no such idea there was a Lord Selford—does he live there?"

"He doesn't." Havelock snapped the words, his 注目する，もくろむs gleaming ひどく from behind his glasses. "I wish to God he did. He lives nowhere. That is to say, he lives nowhere longer than two or three days together. He is a nomad of nomads; his father in his 青年 was something of the same nature. Pierce—that is his family 指名する, by the way, and he has always been called Pierce—has spent the last ten years wandering from town to town, from country to country, 製図／抽選 ひどく upon his 歳入, as he can 井戸／弁護士席 afford to do because it is a large one, and returning to England only at the rarest intervals. I 港／避難所't seen him for four years." He said this slowly.

"I'll give you his history, Mr ツバメ, so that you will understand it better," he went on. "When Selford died, Pierce was six. He had no mother, and, curiously enough, no 近づく relations. Selford was an only child, and his wife was also in that position, so that there were no uncles and aunts to whom I could have 手渡すd over my 責任／義務. The boy was delicate, as I 設立する when I sent him to a 準備の school at the age of eight, 推定する／予想するing to be rid of the poor little beggar, but not a day passed that he didn't send me a 公式文書，認める asking to be taken away. 結局 I 設立する a 私的な 教える for him, and he got some sort of education. It was not good enough to enable him to pass the Little Go—that is the 入り口 examination to Cambridge—and I sent him abroad with his 教える to travel. I wish to heaven I hadn't! For the travel bug bit 深い into his soul, and he's been moving ever since. Four years ago he （機の）カム to me in London. He was then on his way to America, where he was 熟考する／考慮するing 経済的な 条件s. He had a wild idea of 令状ing a 調書をとる／予約する—one of the delusions from which most people 苦しむ is that other people are 利益／興味d in their recollections."

刑事 紅潮／摘発するd guiltily, but the lawyer went on, without 明らかに noticing his 当惑.

"Now I'm worried about this boy. From time to time 需要・要求するs come through to me for money, and from time to time I cable him very respectable sums—which, of course, he is する権利を与えるd to receive, for he is now twenty-four."

"His 財政上の position—" began 刑事.

"Perfectly sound, perfectly sound," said Mr Havelock impressively. "That isn't the question at all. What is worrying me is, the boy 存在 so long out of my sight. Anything may happen to him; he may have fallen into the worst possible 手渡すs." He hesitated, and 追加するd: "And I feel that I should get in touch with him—not 直接／まっすぐに, but through a third person. In other words, I want you to go to America next week, and, without 説 that you （機の）カム from me, or that I sent you, get 熟知させるd with Lord Selford—he travels, by the way, as Mr John Pierce. He is a very quick mover, and you'll have to make careful 調査s as to where he has gone, because I cannot 約束 that I can keep you 同様に 知らせるd of his movements as I should like. If, in your absence, I have a cable from him, I will, of course, 送信する／伝染させる it to you. I want you to find Pierce, but in no circumstances are you to 熟知させる the police of America that you are に引き続いて him, or that there is anything 怪しげな in his movements. All that I want to know is. Has he 契約d any 望ましくない 同盟, is he a 解放する／自由な スパイ／執行官, is the money I send to him 存在 雇うd for his own 利益? He tells me, by the way, that he has bought a number of 株 in 産業の 関心s in さまざまな parts of the world, and some of these 株 are in my 所有／入手. A 広大な／多数の／重要な number, however, I cannot account for, and he has replied to my 調査s by telling me that they are 安全に deposited with a South African banking 会社／団体. The 推論する／理由 I ask you to keep this 事柄 完全に to yourself is because, you will understand, I can't have him embarrassed by the attentions of the 地元の 当局. And most 真面目に I am desirous that he should not know I sent you. Now, Mr ツバメ, how does the idea 控訴，上告 to you?"

刑事 smiled. "It looks to me like a very pleasant sort of holiday. How long will this chase last?"

"I don't know—a few months, a few weeks: it all depends upon the 報告（する）／憶測 I receive from you, which, by the way, must be cabled to me direct. I have a very 解放する／自由な 手渡す and I can 許す you the 限界 of expenses; in 新規加入 to which I will 支払う／賃金 you a handsome 料金." He 指名するd a sum which was surprisingly munificent.

"When would you want me to go?" The lawyer took out a little pocketbook and evidently 協議するd a calendar.

"Today is Wednesday; suppose you leave next Wednesday by the Cunarder? At 現在の he is in Boston, but he tells me that he is going to New York, where he will be staying at the Commodore. Boston is a favourite 追跡（する）ing ground of his." His lips twitched. "I believe he ーするつもりであるs sparing a 一時期／支部 to the American War of Independence," he said dryly; "and, 自然に, Boston will afford him an excellent centre for that 熟考する／考慮する."

"One question," said 刑事, as he rose to go. "Have you any 推論する／理由 to suppose that he has 契約d, as you say, an 望ましくない 同盟—in other words, has married somebody that he shouldn't have married?"

"No 推論する／理由 at all, except my 怪しげな mind," smiled Mr Havelock. "If you become friendly with him, as I am perfectly sure with an 成果／努力 you can 後継する in doing, there are 確かな things I would like you to 勧める upon him. The first of these is that he come 支援する to England and takes his seat in the House of Peers. That is very 必須の. Then I should like him to have a London season, because it's high time he was married and off my mind. Selford Manor is going to 廃虚 for want of an occupant. It is disgraceful that a 罰金 old house like that should be left to the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of a 管理人—anyway, he せねばならない come 支援する to be buried there," he 追加するd, with a 確かな grim humour, and 刑事 did not やめる understand the point of his 発言／述べる until eight months later.

The 仕事 was, in Dr Stalletti's words, 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の and bizarre, but it was not wholly unusual. Indeed, the first thought he had was its extreme 簡単. The （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 was really a holiday on a grand 規模, and something of his 悔いる at leaving Scotland Yard was expunged by the pleasant prospect.

It was nine o'clock on this wet October night when he （機の）カム into Acacia Road. There was not a cab in sight, and he had to walk half a mile before he reached a 階級. Letting himself into his flat, he 設立する it in 不明瞭, and to his surprise Pheeney had gone. The remains of the dinner were on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する—he had told the housekeeper that he would （疑いを）晴らす the board, but one corner of the tablecloth had been turned up, and there on the （疑いを）晴らすd space half a dozen sheets of paper and a fountain pen. Evidently Lew ーするつもりであるd returning, but though 刑事 ツバメ waited up until two o'clock, there was no 調印する of the 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な-robber. For some 推論する／理由 Pheeney had changed his mind.

At half past ten the next morning he called at the library with his 調書をとる／予約する. The girl looked up with a little laugh as he （機の）カム in.

"I 収容する／認める I'm a good joke," he said ruefully. "Here is your 調書をとる／予約する. It was taken by an ignorant foreigner, who believed that 貸付金ing libraries are run on rather haphazard lines."

She 星／主役にするd at the 調書をとる／予約する. "Really, you are most impressive, Mr ツバメ. Please tell me how you did it."

"Sheer deduction," he said gaily. "I knew the man who took it was a foreigner, because you told me so. I guessed his 演説（する）／住所 because you gave it me; and I 回復するd the 調書をとる／予約する by the intricate 過程 of asking for it!"

"Wonderful!" she breathed, and they laughed together. There was small excuse for his ぐずぐず残る, yet he contrived, as she hinted rather plainly, to 妨げる her for the greater part of an hour. Happily, the patrons of the Bellingham Library were not 早期に risers, and she had the best part of the morning to herself.

"I am going abroad next week for a few months," he said carelessly. "I don't know why I tell you, but I thought かもしれない you would be 利益／興味d in foreign travel."

She smiled to herself.

"You are certainly the naivest 探偵，刑事 I have ever met! In fact, the only 探偵，刑事 I have ever met!" she 追加するd. Then, seeing his obvious discomfiture, she became almost 肉親，親類d. "You see, Mr. ツバメ, I have been very 井戸／弁護士席 brought up"—even in her 親切, her irony made him wince—"which means that I am fearfully 従来の. I wonder if you can guess how many men one 会合，会うs in the course of a week who try to 利益／興味 you in their family 事件／事情／状勢s? I'm not 存在 unkind really," she smiled, as he 抗議するd.

"I've been rather a brute—I'm awfully sorry," said 刑事 率直に, "and I deserve all the roasting you give me. But it's very natural that even a humble 探偵，刑事 officer should wish to 改善する an 知識 with one who, if I may say so without bringing a blush to your maiden cheeks, has a singularly attractive mind."

"And now let us all be complimentary," she said, though the colour in her 直面する was 高くする，増すd and her 注目する，もくろむs were a little brighter. "You are the world's best 探偵，刑事, and if ever I lose anything, I am sending すぐに for you."

"Then you'll draw a blank," said 刑事 triumphantly. "I'm leaving the 軍隊 and becoming a respectable member of society tomorrow. 行方不明になる...?"

She did not 試みる／企てる to help him.

Then suddenly he saw a look of understanding come to her 直面する.

"You're not the man that Mr Havelock is sending to look for my 親族, are you?"

"Your 親族?" he asked in amazement. "Is Lord Selford a 親族 of yours?"

She nodded. "He's a forty-second cousin, heaven knows how many times 除去するd. Father was his second cousin. Mother and I were dining with Mr Havelock the other night, and he said that he was trying to get a man to run Selford to earth."

"Have you ever met him?" asked 刑事.

She shook her 長，率いる.

"No, but my mother knew him when he was a small boy. I think she saw him once. His father was a horror. I suppose Mr Havelock has told you that —I am assuming that my guess is 権利: you are going in search of him?"

刑事 nodded.

"That was the sad news I was trying to break to you," he said.

At that moment their tête-à-tête was interrupted by the arrival of an 年輩の gentleman with a vinegary 発言する／表明する, who, 刑事 guessed, was the 長官.

He went 支援する to Scotland Yard to find Captain Sneed, who had been absent when he had called on the phone that morning. Sneed listened without comment to the 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の story of Lew Pheeney's midnight 占領／職業.

"It certainly sounds like a 嘘（をつく）, and anything that sounds like a 嘘（をつく） 一般に is a 嘘（をつく）," he said. "Why didn't Pheeney stay, if he'd got this thing on his 良心? And who was chasing him? Did you see anybody?"

"Nobody," said 刑事. "But the man was afraid, and genuinely so."

"Humph!" said Sneed, and 圧力（をかける）d a bell.

To the clerk who answered: "Send a man to 選ぶ up Pheeney and bring him here. I want to ask him a few questions," he said. And then, calling the man 支援する: "You know his 演説（する）／住所, 刑事. Go along and see if you can 明らかにする him."

"My 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 of service 満了する／死ぬs at twelve today."

"Midnight," said Sneed laconically. "Get busy!"

Lew Pheeney lived in 広大な／多数の／重要な Queen Street, at a 宿泊するing he had 占領するd for years; but his landlady could give no （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）. Pheeney had left the previous afternoon somewhere about five and had not returned. A haunt of the 夜盗，押し込み強盗 was a small club, extensively patronized by the queer class which hovers eternally on the 縁 of the 法律. Pheeney had not been there—he usually （機の）カム in to breakfast and to collect his letters.

刑事 saw a man who said he had had an 約束／交戦 with Pheeney on the previous night, and that he had waited until twelve.

"Where am I likely to find him?"

Here, however, no （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） was 来たるべき. 刑事 ツバメ's profession was 同様に known as Mr Pheeney's.

He 報告（する）／憶測d the result of his visits to Sneed, who for some 推論する／理由 took a more serious 見解（をとる） of the whole 事柄 than 刑事 had 推定する／予想するd.

"I'm believing it now, that 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な-robbing story," said Sneed, "and certainly it's remarkable if Lew was upset, because nothing short of an 地震 would raise a squeal with him. Maybe he's at your flat?"

When 刑事 got home the flat was empty. His housekeeper had neither seen nor heard from the 訪問者. The 探偵，刑事 strolled into his bedroom, pulled off his coat, ーするつもりであるing to put on the old 狙撃 jacket he wore when he was 令状ing—for he had a number of 報告（する）／憶測s to finish before he made his final 出口 from the Yard. The coat was not hanging up where it was usually kept, and he remembered that his housekeeper had told him that she had put it in the bureau: a tall piece of mahogany furniture where his four 控訴s were invariably hung on hangers.

Without a thought he turned the 扱う of the bureau door and pulled it open. As he did so, the 団体／死体 of a man fell against him, almost knocking him over, and dropped to the 床に打ち倒す with an inanimate thud. It was Lew Pheeney, and he was dead.

CHAPTER V

The Big Five at Scotland Yard filled 刑事 ツバメ's dining room, waiting for the 判決 of the 医療の man who had been あわてて 召喚するd. The doctor （機の）カム in in a few minutes. "So far as I can tell by a superficial examination," he said, "he's been dead for some hours, and was either strangled or his neck was broken."

In spite of his self-支配（する）／統制する, 刑事 shivered. He had slept in the room that night, where, behind the polished door, lay that 恐ろしい secret. "There was no 調印する of a struggle, ツバメ?" asked one of the officers.

"非，不，無 whatever," said 刑事 emphatically. "I am inclined to agree with the doctor: I should think that he was struck by something 激しい and killed 即時に. But how they got into the flat. God knows!"

調査s of the girl who worked the night elevator were unsatisfactory, because she could remember nobody having come into the flat after 刑事 had gone out.

The six 探偵，刑事s made a minute examination of the 前提s.

"There's only one way he could have come in," said Sneed when the 査察 was over, "and that is through the kitchenette."

There was a door in the kitchen 主要な to a tiny balcony, by the 味方する of which ran an outside service 解除する, used, as 刑事 explained, to 伝える tradesmen's 小包s from the 中庭 below, and worked from the ground level by a small 扱う and winch.

"You don't remember if this kitchen door was bolted?" asked Sneed.

The troubled young man explained that he had not been in the kitchen after his return on the previous night. But his housekeeper, who was hovering tearfully in the background, volunteered the （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） that the door was open when she had come that morning.

刑事 looked 負かす／撃墜する into the yard. The flat was sixty feet from the ground, and although it was possible that the 侵入者 had climbed the ropes of the service 解除する, it seemed a feat beyond the 力／強力にする of most 夜盗，押し込み強盗s.

"He gave you no 指示，表示する物 as to who the man was he 恐れるd?" asked Sneed, when the 残り／休憩（する） of the Yard officers had gone 支援する to （警察，軍隊などの）本部.

"No," 刑事 shook his 長，率いる. "He told me nothing. He was 脅すd, and I'm sure his story was perfectly true—すなわち, that he was engaged to 略奪する a 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な, and that he had an idea that the man who made the 約束／交戦 would have killed him if he had 後継するd in his 仕事."

刑事 went 負かす／撃墜する to Lincoln's Inn Fields that morning and had an interview with Mr Havelock, who had already read the account in the evening newspapers, though Lew's strange story was 抑えるd by the police even at the 検死.

"Yes, I was afraid this might 干渉する with our 計画（する）s, but I'm not particular to a week or two, and if you must remain behind for 調査s, I will still その上の 延長する the period. Though in a sense the 事柄 is 緊急の, it is not すぐに so."

There was a 会議／協議会 of Yard 公式の／役人s, and it was agreed that 刑事 should be 許すd to leave England すぐに after the 検死, unless an 逮捕（する） was made, on the understanding that he was to keep in touch with （警察，軍隊などの）本部, so that, should the 殺害者 be 設立する, it would be possible for him to return to give 証拠 at the 裁判，公判. This 協定 he 伝えるd to Mr Havelock.

The 検死 was held on the Friday, and, after 刑事's 証拠, 延期，休会するd for an 不明確な／無期限の period. On the Saturday morning at twelve o'clock he left England, on the wildest chase that any man had ever undertaken. And behind him, did he but know it, stalked the 影をつくる／尾行する of death.

CHAPTER VI

When 刑事 ツバメ left England on his curious 追求（する），探索（する）, the Pheeney 殺人 本体，大部分／ばら積みのd 大部分は in the newspapers, and almost as 大部分は in his mind. There were other thoughts and other fancies to 占領する the voyage, and, long after the memory of the 殺人d cracksman had faded, there remained with him the 見通し of two grey 注目する，もくろむs that were laughing at him all the time, and the sound of a low, 甘い, teasing 発言する／表明する.

If he had only had the sense to discover her 指名する before he left. He might have written to her, or, or least, sent her picture postcards of the strange lands through which he travelled. But, in the hurry of his 出発, and 占領するd as he was with the Pheeney 罪，犯罪, though he played no 公式の／役人 part in the 必然的な 調査s which followed, he had neither the time nor the excuse to call upon her. A letter 演説（する）／住所d to 'the pretty lady with the grey 注目する，もくろむs at the Bellingham Library' might conceivably reach her, if there were no other lady 雇うd in the building who also was favoured with 注目する，もくろむs of that hue. On the other 手渡す (he argued this やめる 厳粛に, as though it were an intelligent proposition) she might conceivably be annoyed.

From Chicago he sent a letter to the 長官 of the library, enclosing a subscription, though he had no more need of 科学の 容積／容量s than a menagerie of wild cats. But he hoped that he would see her 指名する on the 領収書—it was not until the letter was 地位，任命するd that he realized that by the time the 領収書 returned to Chicago he would be thousands of miles away, and 悪口を言う／悪態d himself for his folly.

自然に he heard nothing from Sneed, and was compelled to depend upon such 逸脱する English papers as （機の）カム his way to discover how the Pheeney mystery had developed. 明らかに the police had made no 逮捕（する）, and the 記録，記録的な／記録する of the 罪，犯罪 had dwindled to small paragraphs in 半端物 comers of the newspapers.

He （機の）カム to Cape Town from Buenos 空気／公表するs, to 行方不明になる his man by a 事柄 of days, and there had the first cheerful news he had received since his search began. It was a cable from Havelock asking him to return home at once, and with a joyful heart he boarded the 城 boat at the quay. On that day he made his second important 発見, the first having been made in Buenos 空気／公表するs.

In all his travels he had not once come up with the will-o'-the-wisp lordling whom he had followed half 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the world, and the zest of the chase had already 出発／死d from him. From Cape Town to Madeira was a thirteen-day voyage by the intermittent steamer on which he travelled, having 行方不明になるd the mail by four days. To a man with other 利益／興味s than deck sports, the peculiar 特徴 of 乗客s, and the daily sweepstake, those thirteen days 代表するd the dullest period 刑事 ツバメ had ever 耐えるd. And then, when the ship stopped to coal, the 奇蹟 happened. Just before the steamer left, a 開始する，打ち上げる （機の）カム と一緒に; half a dozen 乗客s 機動力のある the stairs, and for a moment 刑事 thought he was dreaming.

It was she! There was no mistaking her. He could have 選ぶd her out of a million. She did not see him, nor did he make himself known to her. For now that they were, so to speak, under one roof, and the 適切な時期 that he dreamed of had 現在のd itself in such an 予期しない fashion, he was curiously shy, and 避けるd her until almost the last day of the voyage.

She was coolness itself when at last they met. "Ah yes, I knew you were on board. I saw your 指名する in the 乗客 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）," she said, and he was so agitated that he did not even resent the amusement in her 注目する，もくろむs.

"Why didn't you speak to me?" he asked brazenly, and again she smiled.

"I thought you were here—on 商売／仕事," she said maliciously. "My steward told me that you spent most of your evenings in the smokeroom watching people play cards. I was wondering when you were coming into the library. You're a 加入者 now, aren't you?"

"Yes," he said awkwardly; "I believe I am."

"I know because I 調印するd your 領収書," she said.

"Oh, then, you're—" He paused expectantly.

"I'm the person that 調印するd the 領収書." Not a muscle of her 直面する moved.

And then: "What is your 指名する?" he asked bluntly.

"My 指名する is Lansdown—Sybil Lansdown."

"Of course, I remember!"

"You saw it on the 領収書, of course?"

He nodded.

"It was returned to the library through the Dead Letter Office!" she went on ruthlessly.

"I never knew a human 存在 who could make a man feel やめる as big a fool as you," he 抗議するd, laughing. "I mean, as you make me feel," he 訂正するd あわてて.

And that ended the conversation until the evening. On the dark deck, 味方する by 味方する, they talked commonplaces, until—

"Start Light on the port 屈服する, sir," said a muffled 発言する／表明する on the 橋（渡しをする） deck above.

The two people leaning over the rail in the 狭くする deck space 今後 saw a splash of light quiver for the fraction of a second on the 縁 of the dark sea and 消える again. "That is a lighthouse, isn't is?"

刑事 辛勝する／優位d himself a little closer to the girl, 事情に応じて変わる himself stealthily along the 幅の広い rail.

"Start Light," he explained. "I don't know why they call it 'Start'— 'Finish' would be a better word, I guess." A silence, then:

"You are not American, are you?"

"Canadian by habit, British by birth—mostly anything people want me to be. A 肉親，親類d of renegade." He laughed softly in the 不明瞭.

"I don t think that is a nice word. I wondered if I should 会合，会う you when I （機の）カム 船内に at Madeira. There are an awful queer lot of people on board this ship."

"Thank you for those 肉親，親類d words," said 刑事 厳粛に, and she 抗議するd. He went on: "There never was an ocean-going ship that wasn't 十分な of queer people. I'll give you a hundred million if you can travel on a packet where some 乗客 doesn't say, 'My, what a menagerie!' about the others. No, 行方不明になる Lansdown, you're not 存在 trite. Life's trite anyway. The tritest thing you can do is to eat and sleep. Try living 初めは and see how quick you go dead. Here's another queer thing about ships—you never have the 神経 to talk to the people you like till you're only a day from port. What they do with themselves the 残り／休憩（する） of the time, I've never 設立する out. Five days from Madeira—and I never spoke to you till this afternoon. That's proof."

She drew a little さらに先に from him and straightened herself.

"I think I'll go below now," she said. "It is rather late and we have to get up 早期に—"

"What you're really thinking," said 刑事, very gently, "is that in a second or so I'll be pawing your 手渡す and 説 wouldn't it be wonderful if we could sail on like this for ever under the 星／主役にするs and everything. I'm not. Beauty attracts me, I 収容する／認める it. I know you're beautiful because I couldn't find anything 半端物 about your 直面する." He heard her laughing. "That's beauty in a 宣告，判決—something that isn't 半端物. If your nose was fat and your 注目する，もくろむs little and squeeny and your complexion like one of these 地図／計画するs that show the 濃度／密度 of 全住民, I'd have admired you for your goodness of heart, but I shouldn't have raved you into the Cleopatra class. I'll bet she wasn't much to look at if the truth was known."

"Are you going abroad again?" She turned the talk into a way that was いっそう少なく embarrassing, but regretted the necessity.

"No—I'm staying in London: in Clargate Gardens. I've got a pretty nice little flat; you can sit in the middle of any room and touch the 塀で囲むs without stretching. But it's big enough for a man without ambitions. When you get to my age—I'll be thirty on the fourteenth of September: you might like to send me flowers—you're content to settle 負かす／撃墜する and watch the old world wag around. I'll be glad to get 支援する. London takes a 持つ／拘留する of you, and just when you're getting tired of it, up comes a 霧 like glue-gas and you can't find your way out."

She sighed.

"Our flat is smaller than yours. Madeira was heaven after Coram Street!"

"What number?" asked 刑事 brazenly.

"One of the many," she smiled. "And now I really must go. Goodnight."

He did not walk 支援する with her to the companionway, but strolled to the ship's 味方する, where he could watch the わずかな／ほっそりした 人物／姿／数字 as it passed quickly along the 砂漠d deck.

He wondered what had taken her to Madeira, for he guessed that she was not one of those fortunate people who, to escape the rigours of an English winter, could afford to follow the path of the vernal equinox. She was much more pretty than he had thought—beautiful in a pale, Oriental way—it was the slant of her grey 注目する，もくろむs that 示唆するd the East—not pale 正確に／まさに—and yet not pink. Perhaps it was the geranium red of her lips that, by contrast, gave the illusion of pallor. Thin? He decided that she was not that. He thought of thin people ーに関して／ーの点でs of brittleness—and she was supple and plastic.

Amazed to find himself 分析するing her charm, he strolled along the deck and turned into the smoking-room. Although the hour was past eleven, the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs were 占領するd, and by the usual （人が）群がる. He walked to one in the corner and stood watching the play until, after many uneasy and resentful ちらりと見ることs, the big man who, up till his arrival, had been the most jovial and the most successful player threw 負かす／撃墜する his cards.

"Goin' to bed," he growled, gathered up his winnings and rose.

He stopped before 悪賢い.

"You won a hundred from me last week," he said. "You 支払う／賃金 that 支援する before you leave this ship."

"Will you have it in 公式文書，認めるs or money?" asked 刑事 ツバメ politely. "Or maybe you'd prefer a cheque?"

The big man said nothing for a moment, then: "Come outside," he said.

刑事 followed him to the 薄暗い lights of the promenade deck.

"See here, mister. I've been waitin' a chance to talk to you—I don't know you, though your 直面する is 肉親，親類d of familiar. I've been working this line for ten years and I'll stand for a little 競争, but not much. What I won't stand for is a cheap skate like you takin' me on and stunnin' me for a century with a stacked deck of cards. Get me?"

"In fact, what your soul 肉親，親類d of pines for is honour amongst card-sharps," said 刑事. "Ever seen this?"

He took a metal badge from his pocket, and the big man gurgled apprehensively.

"I'm not する権利を与えるd to wear that now, because I've left the 王室の Canadian Police," said 刑事 ツバメ, 取って代わるing the badge. "I carry it around for old times' sake. You remember me? I'd say you did! I pinched you in Montreal eight winters ago for selling 採掘 在庫／株 that was unattached to any 地雷."

"刑事 ツバメ—" The big man invoked a 広大な／多数の／重要な personage.

In the seclusion of his cabin, which he 株d with two of his confederates, the big fellow wiped the perspiration from his forehead and grew biographical.

"He's the feller that went up to the Klondyke and took Harvey 井戸／弁護士席s. He had a moustache then, that's why I didn't 認める him. That feller's 情熱! His father was 知事 of the gaol at Fort Stuart and used to 許す his kid to play around with the boys. They say he can do anything with a pack of cards except make it sing. He caught Joe Haldy by pickin' his pocket for the 証拠, and Joe's as wide as 社債 Street."

Next morning, Mr ツバメ （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する the gangway plank of the Grail 城 carrying a スーツケース in each 手渡す. One of the Flack ギャング（団） that …に出席するs all debarkations to look over likely suckers, 示すd his 青年 and jauntiness and 麻薬中毒の his friend, the steward, who was usually a 地雷 of （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）.

"Mr Richard ツバメ; he's a reg'lar time chaser—（機の）カム to the Cape from the Argentine; got to the Argentine from Peru an' 中国—been 負かす／撃墜する to New Zealand and India—God knows where?"

"Got any stuff?"

The steward was 疑わしい.

"Must have—no, he's not a drummer—he had the best cabin on the ship and tipped 井戸／弁護士席. Some boys （機の）カム 船内に at Cape Town and tried to catch him at 橋（渡しをする）, but he （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 'em."

The prospecting member of the Flack （人が）群がる sneered.

"Card people 脅す suckers," he said, with all the contempt which a land どろぼう has for his seagoing brother. "Besides, these Cape boats are too small, and everybody knows everybody else. A card man could 餓死する on that line. So long. Harry."

Harry, the steward, returned the 別れの（言葉，会） indifferently and watched the tout hurry 負かす／撃墜する to the 診察するing shed. ツバメ was waiting for the arrival of the Customs officer with a bored 表現 on his lean brown 直面する.

"Mr ツバメ, isn't it?" The 前進する guard of the 信用／信任 men smiled pleasantly as he 申し込む／申し出d his 手渡す. "I'm Bursen—met you at the Cape," said the newcomer, keeping the high 公式文書，認める of heartiness. "Awfully glad to see you again."

His 手渡す was not taken. Two solemn blue 注目する，もくろむs 調査するd him thoughtfully. The tout was 井戸／弁護士席 dressed; his linen was expensive, the 大規模な gold cigarette-事例／患者 that peeped from his waistcoat pocket was impressive.

"We must 会合，会う in town—"

"At Wandsworth Gaol—or maybe Pentonville," said 刑事 ツバメ deliberately. "Get to 炎s out of this, you amateur tale-teller!"

The man's jaw dropped.

"Go 支援する to your papa"—刑事's long forefinger dug the man's waistcoat, keeping time with his words—"or to the maiden aunt who taught you that line of talk, and tell him or her that suckers are fetching 飢饉 prices at Southampton."

"See here, my friend—" The shoreman began to bluster to cover his 必然的な 退却／保養地.

"If I kick you into the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる, they'll 持つ／拘留する me for the 検死 —seep!"

The '反対／詐欺' man seeped. He was a little angry, a little 脅すd, and very hot under the collar, but he kept 井戸／弁護士席 away from the brown-直面するd man until he saw the first train pull out.

"If he's not a 巡査, I'm a Dutchman," he said, and felt for his cigarette-事例／患者 and the solace of shredded Virginia. The 事例／患者 was gone! 正確に at that moment Mr ツバメ was 抽出するing a cigarette from its 井戸／弁護士席-filled 内部の, and, 重さを計るing the gold in his 手渡す, had 結論するd that it was at least 15 carat and 価値（がある） money.

"What a beautiful 事例／患者!"

The girl sitting opposite to him stretched out her 手渡す, a friendly 保証／確信 that was very pleasing to 刑事 ツバメ. In her simple tailored 衣装 and a の近くに-fitting little hat she was another 肉親，親類d of girl, radiating a new charm and a new fragrance.

"Yes, it's rather 削減（する）," 刑事 answered soberly. "I got it from a friend. Glad your holiday is over?"

She stifled a sigh as she gave the 事例／患者 支援する to him. "Yes, in a way. It wasn't 正確に／まさに a holiday, and it was dreadfully expensive. I can't speak Portuguese either, and that made it difficult."

He raised his eyebrows at that. "But all the hotel folk speak English," he said, and she smiled ruefully.

"I wasn't one of the hotel folk. I lived in a little 搭乗-house on the 開始する, and unfortunately the people I had to see spoke only Portuguese. There was a girl at the 搭乗-house who knew the language a little, and she was helpful. I might have stayed at home for all the good I did."

He chuckled. "We're in the same boat. I've been thirty thousand miles rustling 影をつくる／尾行するs!"

She smiled whimsically. "Were you looking for a 重要な, too?" she asked, and he 星／主役にするd at her.

"A which?" She opened the 特許 leather 捕らえる、獲得する that 残り／休憩（する）d on her 膝s and took out a small cardboard box. 除去するing the lid, she shook into her 手渡す a flat 重要な of remarkable 形態／調整. It was rather like an overgrown Yale, except that the serrations were not 限定するd to one 辛勝する／優位, but were repeated in 複雑にするd 山の尾根s and protuberances on the other.

"That's certainly a queer-looking 反対する," he said. "Was that what you were looking for?"

She nodded.

"Yes—though I didn't know this was all I should get from my trip. Which sounds a little mad, doesn't it? Only—there was a Portuguese gardener 指名するd Silva who knew my father. He used to be in the service of a 親族 of ours. Didn't I 誇る once that I was 関係のある to Lord Selford—by the way, what is he like?"

"Like the letter O, only dimmer," he said. "I never saw him."

She asked a question and then went on: "About three months ago a letter （機の）カム to my mother. It was written in very bad English by a priest, and said that Silva was dead, and that before he died he asked her forgiveness for all the 害（を与える） he had done to us. He left something which was only to be given into the 手渡す of a member of our family. That sounds remarkable, doesn't it?"

刑事 nodded, impatient for her to continue.

"Of course, it was out of the question for mother or me to go—we have very little money to spare for sea trips. But the day after we got the letter, we had another, 地位，任命するd in London and 含む／封じ込めるing a hundred 続けざまに猛撃するs in 公式文書，認めるs and a return ticket to Madeira!"

"Sent by?"

She shook her 長，率いる.

"I don't know. At any 率, I went. The old priest was very glad to see me; he told me that his little house had been burgled three times in one month, and that he was sure the 夜盗，押し込み強盗s were after the little 一括 he was keeping for me. I 推定する／予想するd something very 価値のある, 特に as I learnt that Senhor Silva was a very rich man. You can imagine how I felt when I opened the box and 設立する—this 重要な."

刑事 turned the 重要な over in his 手渡す.

"Silva was rich—a gardener, you said? Must have made a lot of money, eh? Did he leave a letter?"

She shook her 長，率いる.

"Nothing. I was disappointed and rather amused. For some 推論する／理由 or other, I put the 重要な into the pocket of the coat I was wearing, and that was lucky or unlucky for me. I had hardly left the priests' house before a man （機の）カム out of a 味方する alley, snatched my 捕らえる、獲得する, and was out of sight before I could call for help. There was nothing very 価値のある in the 捕らえる、獲得する, but it was all very alarming. When I got on board ship, I put the 重要な in an envelope and gave it to the purser."

"Nobody bothered you on the ship?" She laughed 静かに as at a good joke. "Not unless you would call the experience of finding your trunk turned out and your bed thrown on to the 床に打ち倒す a 'bother'. That happened twice between Madeira and Southampton. Is it 十分に romantic?"

"It certainly is!" said 刑事, 製図／抽選 a long breath. He looked at the 重要な again. "What number Coram Street?" he asked.

She told him before she realized the impertinence of the question.

"What do you think is the meaning of these queer happenings?" she asked as he passed the cardboard box 支援する to her.

"It's surely queer. Maybe somebody 手配中の，お尋ね者 that 重要な 不正に."

It seemed to her a very lame explanation. She was still wondering what had made her so communicative to a comparative stranger when the train ran into Waterloo 駅／配置する. She felt a little nettled by his casual 別れの（言葉，会）; a nod and he had disappeared behind the 審査する of other 乗客s and their friends who （人が）群がるd the 壇・綱領・公約.

It was a ４半期/4分の1 of an hour later before she retrieved her baggage from the welter of trunks that littered the 周辺 of the baggage 先頭. A porter 設立する her a cab, and she was tipping him, when a man 小衝突d past her, jostling her arm, whilst a second man bumped into her from the opposite 味方する. Her 捕らえる、獲得する slipped from her 手渡す and fell to the pavement. Before she could stoop, a third man had snatched it from the ground, and, quick as 雷, passed it to an unobtrusive little man who stood behind him. The どろぼう turned to 飛行機で行く, but a 手渡す しっかり掴むd his collar and jerked him 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, and as his 手渡すs （機の）カム up in defence, a 握りこぶし as hard as ebony caught him under the jaw and sent him 飛行機で行くing.

"Get on your feet, どろぼう, and produce your 捕らえる、獲得する-snatching 許す!" said 刑事 ツバメ 厳しく.

CHAPTER VII

At ten o'clock the next morning 刑事 ツバメ walked blithely into Lincoln's Inn Fields. The birds were twittering in the high trees, the square lay bathed in pale April 日光, and as for 悪賢い, he was at peace with the world, though he had travelled nigh on thirty thousand miles and had failed to 報告（する）／憶測 at the end of them.

Messrs Havelock and Havelock 占領するd an old Queen Anne house that stood shoulder to shoulder with other mansions of the period. A succession of 厚かましさ／高級将校連 plates on the door 発表するd this as the 登録（する）d office of a dozen 会社／団体s, for Mr Havelock was a company lawyer, who, though he never appeared in the 法廷，裁判所s, gave the inestimable 利益 of his advice to innumerable and 繁栄する 会社／団体s.

Evidently the 探偵，刑事 was 推定する／予想するd, for the clerk in the outer office was almost genial.

"I will tell Mr Havelock you're here," he said, and （機の）カム 支援する in a few seconds to beckon the wanderer into the 私的な sanctum of the 上級の partner.

As 刑事 ツバメ （機の）カム in, he was finishing the 口述 of a letter, and he smiled a welcome and nodded to a 議長，司会を務める. When the 口述 was done and the homely stenographer 解任するd, he got up from the big 令状ing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, filling his 麻薬を吸う.

"So you didn't see him?" he asked.

"No, sir. I moved 急速な／放蕩な, but he was quicker. I got into Rio the day he left. I was in Cape Town just three days after he had gone on 陸路の to Beira—and then I had your cable."

Havelock nodded solemnly, puffing at his 麻薬を吸う.

"The erratic devil!" he said. "You might have come up with him at Beira. He's there yet."

Walking to his desk he 圧力（をかける）d a bell, and his 長官 made a reappearance.

"Give me the Selford とじ込み／提出する—the 現在の one," he said, and waited until she had returned and given him a large blue folder. From this he took a cable form and banded it to his 訪問者. 悪賢い read:

HAVELOCK LONDON. 世界保健機構 IS THIS MAN MARTIN CHASING AFTER ME? HAVE ALREADY MAILED POWER OF ATTORNEY. PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE. SHALL BE IN LONDON AUGUST.—PIERCE.

The cable was 時代遅れの Cape Town, three days before 刑事 had arrived there.

"I could hardly do anything else," said Mr Havelock, rubbing his nose irritably with his knuckle. "Did you hear anything about him?"

刑事 chuckled. "That fellow didn't stand still long enough for anyone to notice him," he said. "I've talked to hotel porters and 歓迎会 clerks in seven 肉親，親類d of broken English, and 非，不，無 of 'em had anything on him. He was in Cape Town the day the new High Commissioner arrived from England."

"井戸／弁護士席," asked Havelock after a pause, "what has that to do with it?"

"Nothing." Another pause, and then: "What do you really 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う?" asked 刑事.

Mr Havelock pursed his lips. "I don't know," he 認める 率直に. "At the worst that he has married, or has become entangled in some way with a lady whom he is not anxious to bring to England."

刑事 fingered his chin thoughtfully. "Have you had much correspondence from him?" And, when the other nodded: "May I see it?"

He took the 大臣の地位 from Mr Havelock's 手渡す and turned the leaves. There were cablegrams, 演説（する）／住所d from さまざまな parts of the world, long and short letters, 簡潔な／要約する 指示／教授／教育s, 明白に in reply to some query that Havelock had sent.

"Those only take you 支援する for a year. I have one or two 事例／患者s filled with his letters, if you would like to see them?"

刑事 shook his 長，率いる. "These are all in his handwriting?"

"Undoubtedly. There is no question that he is 存在 impersonated, if that is what you mean." The 探偵，刑事 手渡すd 支援する the 大臣の地位 with a little grimace. "I wish I'd caught up with him," he said. "I'd like to see what 肉親，親類d of bird he is, though I know a dozen young fellows whose feet start itching the moment they sit still. I'm sorry I 港／避難所't been more successful, Mr Havelock, but, as I say, this lad is a swift mover. Maybe at some later time I'll ask to see the whole of these letters; I'd like to 熟考する／考慮する them."

"You can see them now if you wish," said the lawyer, reaching for the bell.

The 探偵，刑事 stopped him. "So far as the 同盟 is 関心d, I think you can 残り／休憩（する） your mind. He was alone in New York and alone in San Francisco. He landed without any encumbrances at Shanghai, and I 追跡するd him through India without there 存在 a hint of a lady in the 事例／患者. When he comes 支援する in August I'd like to 会合，会う him."

"You shall." Mr Havelock smiled grimly. "If I can nail him 負かす／撃墜する long enough to give you time to get here."

刑事 went home, turning over in his mind two important problems, in his pocket a very handsome cheque for his services. The 年輩の woman who kept house for him was out marketing when he arrived. Sitting 負かす／撃墜する at his desk, his 長，率いる in his 手渡すs, his untidy hair rumpled outrageously, he went over the last six exciting months of his life, and at the end the question in his mind was not answered. Presently he pulled the telephone に向かって him and called Havelock.

"I forgot to ask you, why does he call himself Pierce?"

"Who? Oh, you mean Selford? That is his 指名する. Pierce, John Pierce. I forgot to explain to you that he hated his 肩書を与える. Oh, did I? Have you an idea?"

"非，不，無," said 悪賢い untruthfully, for he had several ideas. He had unpacked all but one スーツケース, and this he now proceeded to turn on to the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. It was 十分な of 文書s, hotel 法案s, 公式文書，認めるs he had made in the course of his 小旅行する; and at the 底（に届く） of the 事例／患者 a square sheet of blotting-paper, which he took out carefully and held up to the light. It was the blotted impression left by an envelope: Mr Bertram Cody, Weald House, South Weald, Sussex. There was no need to refresh his memory, for he had made a very careful 公式文書，認める of the 指名する and 演説（する）／住所. He had 設立する that sheet of blotting-paper in the 私的な sitting-room at the Plaza Hotel in Buenos 空気／公表するs which had been 占領するd, forty-eight hours before his arrival, by the restless Mr Pierce. Nobody had used the room after he had gone until 刑事 had asked the hotel 経営者／支配人 to show him the 控訴 which his quarry had 占領するd.

He locked away the blotting-paper in a drawer of his desk, strolled into his bedroom, and stood for a long time looking at himself in the glass.

"Call yourself a 探偵，刑事, eh?" he 需要・要求するd of his reflection, as his lips curled. "You poor, four-紅潮／摘発するing mutt!"

He spent the 残りの人，物 of the day learning a new card trick that he had 選ぶd up on the voyage over; an intricate piece of work, consisting of palming a card from the 最高の，を越す of the pack and passing it so that it became the ninth card of the pack. With a stop-watch before him he practised, until he managed to 遂行する the 移転 in the fifteenth part of a second. Then he was 満足させるd. When dusk descended on the world, he got out his car and drove southward leisurely.

CHAPTER VIII

"Show him in," said Mr Bertram Cody.

He was a little bald man with a gentle 発言する／表明する and the habit of redundancy. He 要求するd five minutes to say all that any other man could 表明する in three 宣告，判決s. Of this fault, if fault it was, he was 井戸／弁護士席 aware and made a jest of his 証拠不十分.

直す／買収する，八百長をするing his large gold-rimmed spectacles, he peered at the card again -

MR JOHN RENDLE, 194, COLLINS STREET, MELBOURNE

The 指名する meant nothing to Mr Cody. He had known a Rendle in the eighties, a 高度に respectable tea importer, but the 知識 was so slight a one that it was hardly likely.

He had been 熟考する／考慮するing a small pocket notebook when the 訪問者 was 発表するd; a red morocco 事例／患者 that had, in 新規加入 to diary and 令状ing space, a little pocket for cards, slips for stamps, and a tiny flat purse. He 押し進めるd the 調書をとる／予約する under a heap of papers at his 手渡す as the stranger entered.

"Mr Rendle," said a woman's 厳しい 発言する／表明する in the shadowy part of the room where the door was, and there （機の）カム out of the gloom a tall, good-looking young man who certainly bore no resemblance to the long-forgotten 中国 merchant.

"Will you sit 負かす／撃墜する?" said Mr Cody gently. "And will you please 許す the 半分-不明瞭 in which I live. I find that my 注目する，もくろむs are not as good as they were, and the glare of lights produces a very painful 影響. This （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する-lamp, carefully shaded as it is, 供給（する）s my needs adequately, though it is insufficient for my 訪問者s. Fortunately, if you will 許す what may appear to you as a rudeness, I receive most of my 報知係s in the daytime."

The 訪問者 had a quick smile, and was evidently a man to whom the 半分-不明瞭 of the big, richly-furnished library was in no sense depressing. He groped in the 影をつくる／尾行するs for the 議長，司会を務める, which 明らかにする／漏らすd itself by the light on its polished 支援する, and sat 負かす／撃墜する.

"I'm sorry to come at this hour, Mr Cody, but I only arrived yesterday by the Moldavia."

"From 中国," murmured Mr Cody.

"From Australia—I transhipped at Colombo."

"The Moldavia did not call at Colombo 借りがあるing to an 突発／発生 of コレラ," interrupted Mr Cody, more gently still.

The 訪問者 laughed. "On the contrary, it called, and I and some thirty 乗客s 乗る，着手するd. The 突発／発生 was 報告（する）／憶測d after we left port. You are 混乱させるing the Moldavia with the Morania, which 行方不明になるd the call a week later."

The colour 深くするd on Mr. Cody's plump 直面する. He was 深く，強烈に 負傷させるd, and in his most tender part, for he had been 有罪の of an error of fact.

"I beg your 容赦," he said in a hushed and humble 発言する／表明する. "I am humiliated to discover that I have made a mistake. It was the Morania —I beg your 容赦! The Moldavia had a smooth voyage?"

"No, sir. We ran into the simoon and had three boats carried away—"

"The two lifeboats on the spar deck and a 切断機，沿岸警備艇 on the aft deck," nodded Mr Cody. "You also lost a lascar—washed overboard. 許す me for interrupting you, I am an omnivorous reader."

There was a paused in the conversation here. Mr. Cody, his 長，率いる on one 味方する, waited expectantly. "Now, perhaps—?" he 示唆するd, almost timidly. Again the 訪問者 smiled.

"I've called on a curious errand," he said. "I have a small farm 近づく Ten Mile 駅／配置する—a 所有物／資産／財産 which 隣接するs a 駅／配置する of yours in that part of the world."

Mr Cody nodded slowly. He had many 所有物／資産／財産s in the overseas 明言する／公表するs: they were profitable 投資s.

"I have 推論する／理由 to believe that there is gold on your 所有物／資産／財産," Rendle went on. "And I take this 見解（をとる） because I am by training an engineer and I know something about metallurgy. Six months ago I made a 発見 which, very 自然に, I was not anxious to advertise until I was 確かな of my facts."

He talked lucidly of 複合的な／複合企業体 and outcrop, and Bertram Cody listened, nodding his 長，率いる from time to time. In the course of his description, Mr Rendle 広げるd a 地図／計画する on the desk—a small 規模 地図／計画する that did not 利益／興味 Bertram Cody at all.

"My theory is that there is a 暗礁 running from here to here..."

When his guest had reached the end of his discourse: "Yes—I know there is gold at Ten Mile 駅／配置する: the 発見 was made by our スパイ／執行官 and duly 報告（する）／憶測d to us, so that the 恐れる you had, Mr—er —em—Rendle, that he was keeping his—er—find a secret, had no 創立／基礎. There is gold—yes. But not in 支払う／賃金ing 量s. The 事柄 has already been 報告（する）／憶測d in the newspaper 圧力（をかける）—um—you would not—have seen that, of course. にもかかわらず, I am 感謝する to you. Human nature is indeed a frail 質, and I cannot 十分に thank you for your thoughtfulness and—um—the trouble to which you have been put."

"I understand that you bought this 所有物／資産／財産 from Lord Selford," 主張するd Mr Rendle.

The bald man blinked quickly, like a man who was dazzled by a 有望な light. "From his—er—スパイ／執行官s: an 著名な 会社／堅い of lawyers. I forget their 指名するs for the moment. His lordship is abroad, you know. I believe that he is difficult to get at." He spread out his plump 手渡すs in a gesture of helplessness. "It is difficult! This young man prefers to spend his life in travel. His スパイ／執行官s hear of him in Africa—they have a letter from the—um—wild pampas of the Argentine—they send him money to 中国—an adventurous life, my dear young friend, but unnerving to his—um—relations, if he has relations. I am not sure."

He shook his 長，率いる and sighed; then, with a start, as though he were for the first time aware that there was an audience to his perturbations, he rose and held out both his 手渡すs.

"Thank you for coming," he breathed, and Mr Rendle 設立する his own 手渡す encased in two warm, soft palms. "Thank you for your 利益／興味. Life is a brighter place for such disinterestedness."

"Do you ever hear from him?" asked the 訪問者.

"From—um—his lordship? No, no! He is ignorant of my 存在. Oh, dear, no!" He took the 訪問者's arm and walked with him to the door. "You have a car?" He was almost 感謝する to his guest for the 所有／入手 of such an article. "I am glad. It looks like 存在 a 嵐の night—and it is late. Half past ten, is it not? A 安全な 旅行 to town!"

He stood under the portico until the 後部 lights of the car had disappeared behind a clump of rhododendrons that 国境d the 運動, then he went 支援する into the hall.

The stout, hard woman in 黒人／ボイコット silk, who 刑事 had thought was Mr Cody's housekeeper, followed her husband into the 熟考する／考慮する and の近くにd the door behind him.

"Who was he?" she asked. Her 発言する／表明する was uneducated, strident, and complaining.

Mr Cody 再開するd his place behind the 激しい 令状ing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and smiled blissfully as he lowered himself into the padded 議長，司会を務める.

"His 指名する is 刑事 ツバメ," he said, "and he is a 探偵，刑事."

Mrs Cody changed colour. "Good Gawd! 探偵，刑事! Bertie, what did he come here for?" She was agitated; the fat, beringed 手渡す that went up to her mouth was trembling. "You're sure?" she quavered.

Mr Cody nodded.

"A clever man—but I 推定する／予想するd him. I have at least three photographs of him. I wonder," said Mr Cody softly. "I really wonder!"

He slipped his 手渡す under the heap of papers to find the little notebook, and suddenly his 直面する went pale.

"It's gone—my 調書をとる／予約する and the 重要な—my God! the 重要な!"

He reeled to his feet like a drunken man, blank terror in his 直面する.

"It was when he showed me that 地図／計画する!" he muttered hoarsely. "I'd forgotten that the fellow is an 専門家 どろぼう. Shut that damned door. I want to telephone!"

CHAPTER IX

刑事 drove a six-cylinder クーデター whose bodywork had seen better days, though he （人命などを）奪う，主張するd for its engine that the world had not seen its equal. With his 審査する-wiper wiping furiously, he （機の）カム 慎重に along the Portsmouth Road, his big headlamps 星／主役にするing whitely ahead. The rain was pelting 負かす／撃墜する, and since he must have a window open, and that window was on the 天候 味方する, one arm and part of the shoulder of his rainproof coat were soon 黒人／ボイコット and 向こうずねing.

'107, Coram Street,' said his subconscious mind; and he wondered why he had connected this 満足な visit of his to Mr Bertram Cody with that 削減する girl who was so seldom absent from his thoughts.

From time to time his 手渡す sought his pocket and the flat leather 調書をとる／予約する that reposed at the 底（に届く）. There was something hard inside that purse; he thought it was money at first; and then, in a flash, he realized that it was the touch of this notebook which 解任するd Sybil Lansdown. He pulled the car up so quickly that it skidded across the road and only 行方不明になるd a 溝へはまらせる／不時着する by a 事柄 of インチs. Straightening the machine, he switched on the 内部の light and 診察するd his 'find'. Before he unfastened the thin flap of the purse he knew what it 含む／封じ込めるd. But he was unprepared for the 形態／調整 and size of the 重要な that lay in his palm. It was an almost exact replica, in point of size, of that which Sybil Lansdown had shown him in the train, and which was now in the strongroom of his bank.

刑事 whistled softly to himself, 取って代わるd the 調書をとる／予約する in his pocket, but slipped the 重要な under the rubber mat beneath his feet. The 企業ing gentlemen who had made such strenuous 成果／努力s, and gone to such expense, to 安全な・保証する Sybil Lansdown's 重要な would not hesitate to 停止する a car.

刑事 was beginning to have a 尊敬（する）・点 for the brethren of the 重要なs, and had 設立する for himself an adventure which より勝るd in 利益／興味 the chasing of peregrinating noblemen. He turned off the 内部の light and sent his car 今後 along the rainswept road, meditating upon the weird character of his 発見. Cody had 否定するd he was in communication with this strange Lord Selford—why? And what was the meaning of the 重要な? 刑事 had seen the oily man 押し進める the 調書をとる／予約する under the papers as he entered, and, out of sheer devilment and his love for 発見, had 掴むd the first 適切な時期 of 抽出するing the 事例／患者. He would compare the two 重要なs in the morning.

In the 合間 it would be 井戸／弁護士席 for him to keep his mind concentrated upon the road ahead. Once a 板材ing lorry had almost driven him into the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する, and now, with twenty miles to go, he saw ahead of him three red lights, and slowed his engine till he （機の）カム within a dozen yards of them. They were red lamps, placed in a line on the road, and if they meant anything it was that the road was under 修理 and の近くにd. And yet—he had passed the lorry going at 十分な 速度(を上げる） only a mile away. That must have come along the forbidden stretch of road.

He peered through the open window and saw on his 権利 a dilapidated 塀で囲む, the 最高の，を越す of which was hidden under a 一面に覆う／毛布 of wild ivy. He saw, by the lights of the headlamps, a gap, where there was evidently a gate. All this he took in at a ちらりと見ること, and he turned to the scrutiny of the road and the three red lights.

"Yes, yes," said 悪賢い to himself, switched out all the lights of the car, and, taking something from his hip pocket, he opened the door 静かに and stepped into the rain, standing for a while listening.

There was no sound, except the swish and patter of the 嵐／襲撃する. Keeping to the centre of the road, he 前進するd slowly に向かって the red lamps, 選ぶd up the middle of these and looked at it. It was very old; the red had been あわてて painted on the glass. The second lamp was more new, but of an 完全に different pattern, and here also the glass pane had been covered by some red, transparent paint. And this was the 事例／患者 with the third lamp.

He threw the middle light into the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する, and 設立する a satisfaction in 審理，公聴会 the 衝突，墜落 of the glass. Then he （機の）カム 支援する to his car, got inside, slammed the door, and put his foot on the starter. The little モーター whined 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, but the engine did not move. There must be some 推論する／理由 for this, he thought, for the car was hot, and never before had it failed. Again he tried, without success; then, getting 負かす／撃墜する from the machine, he walked to the 支援する to 診察する the 石油 戦車／タンク. There was no need, for the little 指示する人（物） dial said 'Empty'.

'Yes, yes,' said 悪賢い again, 星／主役にするing 負かす／撃墜する at this 証拠 of his 当惑.

He had filled up before he reached Mr Cody's house, but, be that as it may, here was a 信頼できる 指示する人（物） pointing starkly to 'E', and when he tapped the 戦車／タンク it gave 前へ／外へ a hollow sound in 確定／確認.

He 匂いをかぐd: the place reeked. Flashing his pocket-lamp on the ground, he saw a metal cap and 選ぶd it up, and then understood what had happened. The wet roadway was streaked opalescently. Somebody had taken out the cap and emptied his 戦車／タンク whilst he was 診察するing the lights.

He refastened the cap, which was both airproof, waterproof and foolproof, and which could only have been turned by the 援助（する） of a spanner; and he had heard no chink of metal against metal. He carried no reserve, so that he was 立ち往生させるd beyond hope of succour, unless—

He sent his lamp in the direction of the gateway. One of the hinges of the gate was broken, and the rotting structure leaned drunkenly against a laurel bush. Until then he had not dreamed that he was anywhere 近づく Gallows Cottage. But now he 認めるd the place.

Keeping his light on, he went up the long avenue quickly. On either 味方する was a 絡まる of 厚い bush, which had grown at its will, unattended by a gardener. 総計費 the tall poplars met in an arch. Keeping the light glowing from 味方する to 味方する, he passed up the 暗い／優うつな avenue. Suddenly he stopped. Under the 影をつくる／尾行する of the hedge he saw a long, 狭くする 穴を開ける. It had been recently dug and was, he 裁判官d, six feet 深い.

"That looks like a home from home," he shuddered, and passed on to the square, ugly house, which had once been covered by plaster, broken now in a dozen places, showing the 明らかにする brick beneath.

Never had it seemed so mean looking as when the 幅の広い beam of his lamp 選ぶd out the patches and fissures in its 塀で囲むs. The 入り口 was a high, 狭くする doorway, above which was a little 木造の canopy, supported by two アイロンをかける 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s let into the brickwork—he 公式文書，認めるd these most carefully now. There was no 調印する of life; no dog barked. The place was dead—rotting.

He waited a second before he 機動力のある the two steps that brought the knocker within reach. As the clapper fell, he heard the sound echoing hollowly through the hall. Had he been a stranger he might easily have imagined that the place was empty, he thought, when no reply （機の）カム. He knocked again. In a few minutes he heard a sound of feet in the hall, the rusty crackle of a 重要な 存在 turned, and the jingling of chains. The door opened a foot, and there appeared in the light of 刑事's lamp the long, sallow 直面する and the 黒人／ボイコット 耐えるd.

The apparition was so startling that 刑事, expectant as he was, nearly dropped his lamp.

"Who is this? What is this?" asked a 発言する／表明する pettishly. "石油? You have lost your 石油? Ach! that is foolish. Yes, I can give you some, if you 支払う／賃金 for it. I cannot afford to give anything away."

He gave no 調印する of 承認, but opened the door wider, and 刑事 walked into the hall, turning as he did so to 直面する the man who had let him in. Dr Stalletti wore a 黒人／ボイコット 全体にわたる, belted at the waist, and indescribably stained. On his feet were a pair of long, ロシアの boots, worn and 割れ目d and amateurishly patched. He had no collar. What 刑事 noticed first was that this strange person had not 明らかに washed since they last met. His big, powerful 手渡すs were grimy, his nails were almost like talons. By the light of the small oil-lamp he carried, ツバメ saw that the hall was expensively furnished; the carpet was 厚い and almost new, the hangings of velvet, the 議長，司会を務めるs and settees of gilt and damask, must have cost a lot of money. A silver chandelier hung from the plastered 天井, and the dozen or so electric candles it held 供給（する）d a brilliant light to the room. But here, as in the passage, everything was インチs 厚い in dust. It rose in a small cloud as he walked across the 厚い carpet.

"You wait here, please. I will get you 石油—one shilling and tenpence a gallon."

刑事 waited, heard the feet of his host sound hollowly, and presently grow faint. He made a careful 査察 of the room. There was nothing here to 示す either the character or the calling of this strange, uncleanly man.

Presently he heard the man returning and the thud of two 石油 tins as they were put 負かす／撃墜する in the hall, and then his strange benefactor appeared, dusting his 手渡すs.

"Four gallons of 石油 of the highest grade."

The 訪問者 might have been a stranger for all the 調印するs he made of 承認, and yet 刑事 was sure that the man knew him; and as though he guessed his 訪問者's thoughts, the bearded man 発表するd, with a 確かな 量 of pomposity:

"I am the Professor Stalletti. We have, I think, met. It was because of a 調書をとる／予約する you （機の）カム."

"That is so, professor." 刑事 was 警報, somewhere inside him a 警告 発言する／表明する was speaking insistently.

"You have heard of me—yes? It is known in science. Come, come, my friend, 支払う／賃金 your money and be gone."

"I am much 強いるd to you, professor," drawled 刑事. "Here's ten shillings—we won't quarrel about the change."

To his surprise, the bearded man pocketed the 公式文書，認める with a smirk of satisfaction. Evidently he was not too proud to make a 利益（をあげる） on the 処理／取引.

Walking to the 前線 door, he opened it, and 刑事 followed him, making his 出口 sideways and keeping his 直面する to this queer-looking man. The professor opened his mouth as though he were going to speak, but changed his mind and slammed the door in his 訪問者's 直面する, and as he did so, there （機の）カム, from somewhere in the house, behind those blind windows, such a 叫び声をあげる of 恐れる and agony as made the 探偵，刑事's 血 run 冷淡な. It was a wail that rose to a shriek and died sobbingly to silence.

Perspiration stood on 刑事 ツバメ's 直面する, and for a second he had the mind to 軍隊 his way 支援する into the house and 需要・要求する an explanation. And then he saw the senselessness of that move, and, carrying a 石油 tin in either 手渡す, made his way 負かす／撃墜する the 運動. He was wearing rubber-単独のd shoes that 原因（となる）d little or no noise, and he was glad, for now his ears must serve where his 注目する，もくろむs failed. By 推論する／理由 of his 重荷（を負わせる） he had to dispense with the use of his lamp.

He had passed that section of the hedge where he had seen the 穴を開ける, when his quick ears （悪事，秘密などを）発見するd something moving behind him. It was the faintest sound, and only one with his keen sense of 審理，公聴会 could have （悪事，秘密などを）発見するd it above the noise of the 落ちるing rain. It was not a rustle; it was something impossible to 述べる. 刑事 turned 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and began to walk backwards, 星／主役にするing into the pitch 黒人／ボイコット 不明瞭 before him. The noise grew more 際立った. A twig snapped in the bushes to his 権利. Then suddenly he saw his danger and dropped the tins. Before he could reach his gun he was at 支配するs with a something, naked, hairless, bestial.

抱擁する 明らかにする 武器 were encircling his shoulders; a 広大な／多数の／重要な 手渡す was groping for his 直面する, and he struck blindly at a 明らかにする torso, so muscled that, even as he struck, he realized that he was wasting his strength. Suddenly, with a mighty 成果／努力, he jerked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, gripped the 抱擁する arm with both his 手渡すs, and, stooping, jerked his 加害者 over his 長，率いる. There was a thud, a groan, a 恐ろしい sobbing, blubbering sound that was not human, and in the next fraction of a second 刑事's (a)自動的な／(n)自動拳銃 was in his 手渡す and the safety catch 押し進めるd 負かす／撃墜する.

"Stay where you are, my friend," he breathed. "I'd like to have a look at you."

He 選ぶd up the たいまつ he had dropped and turned the light on the ground. Nobody was there. He flashed the lamp left and 権利 without discovering a trace of his 加害者. Was he behind him? Turning, he sent the rays in the direction of the house, and in that second caught sight of a 広大な／多数の／重要な 人物／姿／数字, naked except for a loincloth, disappearing into the bushes.

"Jumping snakes!" breathed 刑事 ツバメ, and lost not a second in reaching the road, refilled the empty 戦車／タンク and started the engine.

In a little while he was に引き続いて the road to London, 吸収するd in the problem of Dr Stalletti, and the big 穴を開ける in the ground, recently dug, and ーするつもりであるd, he did not 疑問, for the 歓迎会 of his own 団体／死体.

CHAPTER X

Mr Cody was not a good walker, and was, moreover, a 特に fearful man, さもなければ he might have walked the six miles which separated him from Gallows Cottage on a dark and 風の強い night. Instead, he ordered his car, his chauffeur 抗議するing sourly, and drove to within a hundred yards of the house.

"支援する into that 小道／航路, put your lights out, and don't move until I return."

Mr Tom Cawler growled something under his breath.

"And don't you be long!" he said. "What is the game, anyway, Cody? Why didn't you get him to come over?"

"Mind your own dam' 商売／仕事!" snapped the little man, and disappeared into the 不明瞭.

He reached the cottage soon after one o'clock, and groped his way up the dark 運動. Once, as he put out his stick to feel his way, it almost dropped from under him. If he had been leaning his 負わせる upon it he would have fallen into the 炭坑，オーケストラ席 which had been dug by the 味方する of the path.

He did not knock at the door, but, making a half 回路・連盟 of the house, tapped at one of the dark windows, and returned to find the 前線 door open and Stalletti waiting in the hall.

"Ah, it is you! So strange to find you at such an hour! Come in, my very dear friend. I received your telephone message, but, 式のs! 運命／宿命 was against me."

"He got away?" asked the other fearfully.

Dr Stalletti shrugged and 一打／打撃d his long 耐えるd.

"It was 運命／宿命," he said. "さもなければ, he would be やめる の近くに to us. I spread the lamps on the road, and myself emptied his 石油, and got 支援する to the house before he （機の）カム. The 状況／情勢 was 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の and remarkable. There was nothing between him and death by the thin end of this card." He held a 国／地域d and greasy playing-card in his 手渡す. He had been playing patience when the knock （機の）カム. "There was one weak link, and so it snapped."

Cody looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the 暗い／優うつな hall like a man 脅すd.

"What will happen now?" he asked in a whisper.

Again the doctor shrugged.

"The police will come sooner or later, and they will make a search of my house. Does it 事柄? What shall they find here but a few ネズミs 合法の dead?"

"Did you—?" Cody did not 完全にする the question.

"I sent somebody after him, but somebody failed like a bungling idiot. You cannot develop muscle except at the expense of brain, my dear fellow. Will you come in?"

He led the way 支援する to his workroom. The desk at which he worked had been （疑いを）晴らすd of its unpleasant 所有物／資産／財産s, and was half covered with playing-cards.

"First you may tell me who is this man? I have seen him before. He （機の）カム to me to ask some questions about a 調書をとる／予約する. It was the day your chauffeur was here. I seem to know him, and yet I do not know him."

Cody licked his 乾燥した，日照りの lips; his 激しい 直面する was white and drawn.

"He is the man Havelock sent after Selford," he muttered, and the doctor's eyebrows went up to a point.

"Can that かもしれない be? How 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の and bizarre! So he is the gentleman that the clever lawyer sent to look for Selford!" He began to laugh, and the sound of his laughter was like the crackling of parchment.

"That is too good a joke! The real good, simple Havelock! So clever a man! And," he 需要・要求するd archly, "did our friend find my lord? No? That is remarkable. Perhaps he did not move quick enough! Perhaps he went by train when airplanes were procurable!"

He seated himself at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, （電話線からの）盗聴 a tattoo with his uncleanly fingers upon its surface.

"What else does my friend want?" he asked, 注目する，もくろむing the other 熱心に.

"I want some money," said Cody, in a sulky 発言する／表明する.

Without a word, the doctor stooped 負かす／撃墜する and 打ち明けるd a drawer of his desk, took out a 乱打するd tin cash-box, opened it, and 抽出するd a 厚い bundle of 公式文書，認めるs.

"There are より小数の to 支払う／賃金 now," he said. "Therefore your money is 増加するd. If I die, it will be to your 利益. Per contra—"

"Don't let us talk about death," shivered the little man, his trembling 手渡すs 逸脱するing to his bald 長，率いる. "We don't want any of that sort of thing; we've gone 権利 away from our first idea, which was good. If you take life—"

"Have I taken life?"

"Have you?" 需要・要求するd Cody, and waited.

The doctor's red mouth curled in a smile.

"There was a Mr Pheeney," he said carefully. "Is that how you 指名する him? He certainly died, but I think that must have been 自殺." He chuckled again. "I do not love people who go to policemen. That is very bad for 商売／仕事, because the police have no imagination. Now, suppose I go to a policeman"—he was 注目する，もくろむing the other from under his drooping lids —"and suppose I make 声明s—what a 大災害!"

The little man jumped to his feet, quivering.

"You dare not!" he said hoarsely. "You dare not!"

Again Stalletti shrugged his thin shoulders.

"Why do I stay in this 冷淡な and horrible country," he asked, "when I could be sitting on the patio of my own beautiful 郊外住宅 in Florence? There I would be away from these stupid policemen."

He stopped suddenly and raised his finger to signal for silence. Cody had not caught the faint squeak against the shuttered window, but the doctor had heard it twice.

"There is somebody outside," he whispered.

"Is it—?"

Stalletti shook his 長，率いる.

"No, it is not Beppo." His lips curled at the word, as though he were enjoying the best jest in the world. "Wait."

He crossed the room noiselessly and disappeared into the dingy passage. Cody heard the sound of a door 存在 softly 打ち明けるd, and there was a long wait before the man returned. He was blinking as though the return to the light was painful to his 注目する，もくろむs, but Cody had seen him in this 条件 before, and knew that this strange, unearthly man was 労働ing under an unusual emotion.

He carried in his 手渡す a thing that looked like a telephone earpiece with a rubber attachment.

"Somebody was listening at the window, my friend. I will give you three guesses—you were not driven here by car?"

"I walked," said the other すぐに.

"Your excellent chauffeur—he 苦しむs from curiosity?"

"I tell you I walked. No chauffeur （機の）カム with me."

"He could walk also. What is this?"

He took from his pocket a cap and laid it on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

"Do you 認める this—no?"

Cody shook his 長，率いる.

"He had taken this off to put on the earpieces. The microphone I could not find. But he listened—yes."

"Who was it? It couldn't have been Cawler," said Cody fretfully. "He is my wife's 甥."

"And adores her?" sneered the doctor.

He turned the cap inside out, and read the 指名する of the 販売人.

"How strange it would be if, after all, you harboured in your house a 秘かに調査する."

"How can that be?" said the other violently. "You know as much as I know about Cawler."

"And you know—what? Nothing except that he is a どろぼう, a stealer of モーター-cars, on whom the police have their 注目する，もくろむ all the time. When this friend of yours （機の）カム, this Martini—ツバメ, is it?—he knew your Cawler, and I was 即時に 妥協d."

Then Cody began to speak in a low, earnest トン, and the bearded man listened, at first with contemptuous 無関心／冷淡 and then with 利益／興味. "It is a pity that my Beppo was not in the grounds. We should have known for sure," he said at last.

Mr Cody walked half a mile along the road to where he had left his car. The chauffeur was dozing in his seat, but woke at the sound of his 雇用者's 発言する／表明する.

"Cawler, have you been by the car all the time? Did you follow me?"

"Would I walk if I could ride?" growled the man. "Of course I've been here all the time. Why? Somebody been 影をつくる／尾行するing you?"

"You play the fool with me, my friend, and you'll be sorry."

"I'm never sorry for anything I've done," said the other coolly. "Get inside—it's raining."

He swung the car out on the main road and drove 支援する to Weald House at breakneck 速度(を上げる）. Amongst the many things which Mr Cody dreaded was 急速な／放蕩な 運動ing, and the only way his chauffeur could get even at times was to do one of the things that the little man did not like. He got out, livid with 激怒（する）, and spluttered an expletive at the unmoved chauffeur.

"You're giving yourself 空気／公表するs because you think you're 不可欠の, you—!"

Even while he was talking, the car moved on to its garage. As a debater, Tommy Cawler did not regard his master as 存在 worthy of his metal.

CHAPTER XI

MR HAVELOCK had scarcely reached his office the に引き続いて morning when 刑事 arrived. The bushy brows of that gentleman rose at the sight of his 訪問者. "I've come to make a 自白, Mr Havelock," he began.

"That sounds ominous," said the other, his 注目する，もくろむs twinkling.

"Maybe it's more ominous than it sounds," said 刑事. "I've kept something 支援する from you—（警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） which せねばならない be in your 手渡すs."

簡潔に he told the story of the blotting-paper he had 設立する in the hotel in Buenos 空気／公表するs.

"明白に Lord Selford is in communication with this person. Because I wasn't やめる sure how the land lay, and whether there was something behind Selford's absence from England, I took the trouble to 調査／捜査する."

"Mr Bertram Cody?" frowned Havelock, "I seem to remember that 指名する."

"かもしれない you 解任する the sale of an Australian 所有物／資産／財産?"

Havelock's 直面する lightened.

"Why, of course, that is it!" he said. "There was some talk of gold 存在 設立する on the 所有物／資産／財産. I saw the 告示 in The Times. Cody, of course! But he doesn't know Lord Selford."

"Then why should Selford 令状 to him?"

"Perhaps he wrote to his lordship first," 示唆するd Mr Havelock, 明白に perturbed. "Did you ask him, by the way, whether he knew our young friend?"

刑事 nodded.

"He 否定するs all knowledge and all correspondence, which sounded queer to me. Have you ever seen anything like this?"

He laid on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する the little pocketbook he had taken from the doctor's desk, and, 広げるing it, showed the 重要な. Mr Havelock 選ぶd it up and 診察するd it curiously.

"That is a queer-looking thing. What is it—a 重要な?" he asked. "How did you get this?"

"I 設立する it," said the unabashed 刑事. "It was in a notebook that I— borrowed. You will see that the 調書をとる／予約する is 十分な of 入ること／参加（者）s relating to Lord Selford's movements. Here is Buenos 空気／公表するs and the date he was there; here is the date of his arrival in Shanghai; the date he left San Francisco—in fact, this is a very 完全にする memorandum of Lord Selford's movements during the past eight months."

Havelock turned the pages slowly.

"This is certainly 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の," he said. "You say he 否定するs knowing Selford?"

"絶対. He swore he'd never seen him or had any correspondence with him. Selford has done all his 商売／仕事 in 関係 with the sale of the Australian 商売／仕事 through you."

Mr Havelock nodded.

"That is true," he said. "I remember the circumstances 井戸／弁護士席. My managing clerk carried through that 処理／取引."

"Do you know a fellow 指名するd Stalletti? He lives in a house on the London road, halfway to Brighton."

He saw Mr Havelock start.

"Yes, I know Stalletti, but I 港／避難所't seen his house for years. As a 事柄 of fact, it is one of Selford's 所有物／資産／財産s, too—most of the land thereabouts is part of the Selford 広い地所. Cody must be a leaseholder of ours. As for Gallows Cottage, I remember that we 賃貸し（する）d it to Stalletti after his trouble in London. He was 起訴するd for practising vivisection without a licence," he explained. "An uncleanly, Svengali-looking man."

"That 述べるs him so 完全に," said 刑事, "that a policeman could 認める him!"

"What has he been doing?"

"Why, I'll tell you," said 刑事 slowly.

He had good 推論する／理由 for his tardiness, for the 解答 of the Selford mystery had come to him with 劇の suddenness, and he was trying to think of two things at one and the same time, to piece together loose ends to which he might 井戸／弁護士席 充てる the 労働 of months. にもかかわらず, his story was a 公正に／かなり faithful narrative of his adventure.

"Have you been to the police?" asked Havelock, when he had finished.

"No, sir. I can never get it out of my mind that I am the police —all the police I'm 利益／興味d in." He scratched his chin meditatively. "I certainly might have seen old man Sneed," he said.

"Who is Sneed?" 需要・要求するd Havelock.

"A Scotland Yard man," replied 刑事 slowly. "Sneed's strong for mysteries."

"A 探偵，刑事?" he asked.

"Yes. What does Stalletti do for a living, Mr Havelock?"

"I'm blessed if I know," said the lawyer. "He is really a brilliant 病理学者, but his 実験s are a little too peculiar for the modern school. By Jove! I remember now. When Stalletti took the house, it was on the 推薦 of Cody. Wait a moment, I'll turn it up," He hurried from the room and （機の）カム 支援する in a few minutes with a letter-調書をとる／予約する in his 手渡す.

"That is so," he said. "Cody, if you remember, had just bought the Australian 所有物／資産／財産, and it was a month after that 処理／取引 was 完全にするd that we gave Stalletti a 賃貸し（する） on Gallows Cottage. A 劇の 指名する, Mr ツバメ, but a gallows in fact used to stand somewhere about there in the bad old times."

"It'll stand somewhere about there in the good new times," said 刑事, "if that 凶漢 digs any more 穴を開けるs for me!"

He had learned all he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to know—indeed, much more than he 推定する／予想するd; and he returned to Clargate Gardens only to pack his two スーツケースs and to give the astonished old woman who looked after the flat in his absence a month's holiday.

"I guess a month will be just long enough. You can go to the sea or you can go to the mountains, Rebecca, but there's one place that's 閉めだした, and it's this little old home of 地雷."

"But why, sir—?" began the woman.

刑事 was very 会社／堅い on the point, uttered horrific 脅しs as to what would happen to the lady if she dared so much as look in during the period of her leave.

His flat was one of many in an apartment 封鎖する, and to the 管理人 he gave 指示／教授／教育s about his letters, which were to be sent to Scotland Yard to を待つ his arrival. He did not 通知する Mr Havelock of his 計画（する）s, considering that at this 行う／開催する／段階 of the special 調査s which he was 準備するing to 請け負う, it would be advisable not to take any man into his 信用／信任.

CHAPTER XII

MRS LANSDOWN and her daughter were people who lived as 自然に in three rooms as they would have lived in a town house with twenty. A frail woman of remarkable beauty, Sybil's mother had had both experiences. There was a time of affluence when Gregory Lansdown had his thousand acres in Berkshire, a shoot in Norfolk, and a salmon river in Scotland, to say nothing of his handsome little house in Chelsea. But those 所有／入手s, with his racing stable, his steam ヨット and the 年一回の trip to Algeria, had gone in a night. He was a director of a company that went into liquidation, に引き続いて the hurried 出発 of a managing director who went 結局 to 刑務所，拘置所. The directors were called upon to make good the best part of a million and a half, and Gregory Lansdown was the only one of them whose 所有物／資産／財産 was in his own 指名する. He paid to the last farthing and died before the last 支払い（額） was 完全にするd.

The Lansdowns 保持するd one 資産—the house in which they were now living, and which had been divided up into three self-含む／封じ込めるd flats before the blow fell. Into one of these, the smallest, Mrs Lansdown carried such of her personal 所持品 as she could 海難救助 from the 難破させる of fortune. They were sitting together on the night after Sybil's return, the mother reading, Sybil 令状ing at the little escritoire in the corner of the sitting-room. Presently Mrs Lansdown put 負かす／撃墜する her 調書をとる／予約する.

"The trip was foolish—it was stupid of me to 許可／制裁 it. I am worried a little about the consequence, dear. It is all so frantically unreal and fantastic that if it were anybody but you who had told me I should 解任する the story as a piece of romantic imagination."

"Who was Silva, mother?"

"The Portuguese? He was やめる a poor man; a landscape gardener. Your father discovered him in Madeira and brought him to the notice of his cousin. I have always known that he was 感謝する to your dear father, who helped him in many ways. He became 長，率いる gardener to our cousin—who was not the nicest man to work for; he had an unpleasant habit of thrashing servants who displeased him, and I believe he once struck Silva. Do you remember him, Sybil?"

Sybil nodded.

"A big, red-直面するd man with a tremendous 発言する／表明する—he used to 運動 in a carriage drawn by four horses. I hated him!" Mrs Lansdown took up her 調書をとる／予約する again, read a line or two, and then put it 負かす／撃墜する. "What is this man, Sybil?"

Sybil laughed. "Mother, that is the fourth time you've asked me! I don't know. He was very nice and had wonderful blue 注目する，もくろむs."

"A gentleman?"

"Yes," quickly. "Not a perfectly mannered man, I should think; very 警報, very 有能な, a most trustable man."

Mrs Lansdown turned a page of her 調書をとる／予約する without reading. "What is he —his profession, I mean?"

Sybil hesitated. "I don't know—now. He used to be a 探偵，刑事-視察官, but he has left the police 軍隊. Didn't I tell you?" And then, a little defiantly: "What is the social position of a 探偵，刑事?"

Her mother smiled to herself. "About the same as a librarian, my dear," she said 静かに. "In the 事柄 of professions he is on the same 計画（する） as my little girl. It wasn't wise to ask you that."

The girl got up from the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and, putting her 武器 about the 年上の woman, hugged her.

"You are thinking because I 注ぐd out my young heart to him, as they say in sentimental stories, that I'm in love with him. 井戸／弁護士席, I'm not! He amuses me awfully—he says the quaintest things. And I like him in spite of the strong language I heard him use to a man on the quay when I was waiting to get my baggage 診察するd. He's very straight and clean. I feel that. I'm glad the wretched 重要な was lost—I could have swooned on his neck for joy when he 攻撃する，衝突する that horrible どろぼう. But I'm no more in love with him than—. He's probably married and has a large and rosy family."

There was a knock at the door. Sybil went to open it and gazed, open-注目する，もくろむd and in some 当惑, at the 支配する of their conversation.

"Won't you come in, Mr ツバメ?" she said, a little awkwardly.

He walked past her into the tiny square hall, and presently followed her into the sitting-room. One shrewd ちらりと見ること the older woman gave him, and was 満足させるd.

"You're Mr ツバメ?" she smiled, as she took his 禁止（する）d in hers. "I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to thank you 本人自身で for your care of my daughter."

"I'm rather glad you について言及するd that, because I didn't know 正確に／まさに how I was going to start my 利益／興味ing conversation," said 刑事, choosing, to the girl's びっくり仰天, the least stable and most 壊れやすい of all the 議長，司会を務めるs in the room. "Safety first is a mighty hackneyed 表現, but, like all these old スローガンs you're tired of 審理，公聴会, it is concentrated truth. Your 重要な, by the way. 行方不明になる Lansdown, is in my bank, and if anybody 押し進めるs you very hard you can tell them so."

She 星／主役にするd at him open-mouthed. "But I thought the 重要な was lost?"

"The 捕らえる、獲得する was lost," he 訂正するd. "When I 手渡すd you 支援する that box on the train, I took the liberty of 抽出するing the 重要な; you heard it 動揺させる, and it was 激しい enough for a 重要な, for I put a half-栄冠を与える piece in the box."

"But it was never out of my sight," gasped the girl.

刑事 smiled sweetly.

"The art of （犯罪の）一味ing changes is to keep everything in sight."

"But it is impossible," said Sybil.

He had an exasperating habit of passing to the next 支配する without 陳謝.

"行方不明になる Lansdown, I'm going to shock you pretty 不正に. You had an idea, when you met me, that I was a respectable member of society. I was—I'm not today. I'm the nearest approach to a 私立探偵 you have ever met—and 私立探偵s are nearly mean. You don't change colour, so I guess you're too numb to feel."

"My daughter had an idea you were in that profession," said Mrs Lansdown, her 注目する，もくろむs dancing with amusement. She was beginning to understand the attraction this drawling man had for her daughter.

"I'm glad," said 刑事 soberly. "Now, when I start to ask questions, you won't be thinking that I'm 消費するd with idle curiosity. You told me about your cousin," he said, 演説（する）／住所ing Sybil; "I'm anxious to know what other cousins Lord Selford has."

"非，不，無," said the girl. "Mother and I are his only living 親族s— unless he is married."

She saw the change that （機の）カム 即時に to his 直面する. The 注目する，もくろむs 狭くするd, the mouth grew harder; something of his levity fell away from him.

"I was afraid of that," he said 静かに. "I guessed it, and I was afraid of it. I knew that you were in this 計画／陰謀 somewhere, but I couldn't やめる see how. Have you any friends in the country, ma'am?" he asked Mrs Lansdown.

"Yes, I have several," she answered in surprise. "Why?"

"You're on the telephone, are you not?" He ちらりと見ることd at the 器具 that stood on the 最高の，を越す of the escritoire. "Will you be 用意が出来ている, at a minute's notice, to leave London? My first inclination was to ask you to leave tonight, but I don't think that will be necessary."

Mrs Lansdown 注目する，もくろむd him 刻々と.

"Will you please tell me what this is all about?" she asked 静かに.

He shook his 長，率いる.

"I can't tell you now. I'm sort of coming out of a もや, and I'm not sure of the 反対するs that are ぼんやり現れるing up. I honestly believe you are both 安全な from danger, and that nobody is going to give you any trouble—yet a while."

"Is all this about the 重要な?" asked Sybil, listening in amazement.

"It is all about the 重要な," he repeated, and she had never seen him so 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な. "What sort of a man was the late Lord Selford?" He directed his question to the mother, and she made a little grimace.

"He was not a nice man," she said. "He drank, and there were one or two unsavoury 出来事/事件s in his past that one doesn't like to talk about, even if one knew the true facts. But then, all the Selfords were a little queer. The 創立者 of the house behaved so 不正に in the fifteenth century that he was excommunicated by the ローマ法王. You have heard of the Selford tombs?"

He shook his 長，率いる. To all 外見s the words had no significance to him. Tombs! His mind flashed 支援する to Lew Pheeney—the man who had died because he had seen too much—the robber of 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大なs. He had to 始める，決める his teeth and school the muscles of his 直面する to impassivity.

"You are probably not 利益／興味d in English antiquities," Mrs Lansdown was 説, "but if you are, I can give you some particulars. Strangely enough, I was reading them only this afternoon."

She got up and went to a bookshelf which stood in one corner, and took out a 容積／容量 the vellum cover of which was yellow with age.

"This is one of the few treasures I 所有する," she said. "It is the 初めの 'Baxter's Chronicle', printed in 1584, one of the first 調書をとる／予約するs that （機の）カム from the Caxton 圧力（をかける）."

She turned the stiff leaves and presently stopped.

"Here is the passage. You need not read about the offence which Sir Hugh committed—it is hardly creditable to our family."

He took the 調書をとる／予約する and read where her finger pointed.

Sir Hugh 存在 under banne of church for hys synnes, and 存在 否定するd burialle such as is ryte for Christianne knyghtes, 原因（となる）d there to be dugge in the earthe a 広大な／多数の／重要な burialle playce for hymme and ye sonnes of hys housse, the wyche ws call'd the Sellfords Toomes, and this sayme ws blessd in proper fashione by F' Marcus, a 宗教上の manne of ye time, butte in secrette because of ye sayed banne. And theyse toomes to the number of a 得点する／非難する／２０ he 原因（となる）d to be made yn stonne curiously cutte wyth mannie angyles and saynts, wych ws wonderfull to see.

"For hundreds of years," said Mrs Lansdown, "the burial ground of the Selfords was unconsecrated, though that has been 治療（薬）d since 1720."

"Where is the place?" asked the fascinated 刑事.

"It is in a corner of Selford Park; a strange, eerie 位置／汚点／見つけ出す on the 最高の，を越す of a small hill, and surrounded by old trees. They call it the Birdless Copse, because birds are never seen there, but I think that is because there is no open water for many miles."

He had to でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる every word he spoke lest he betrayed the wild sense of exultation he felt.

"Who is 占領するing the Manor House? I suppose there is a manor house 大（公）使館員d to the park?"

She nodded.

"It is in the 手渡すs of a 管理人 during Lord Selford's absence. Mr Havelock told me that our kinsman hates the place, and would sell it but for the fact that it is entailed."

He covered his 直面する with his 手渡す, trying to concentrate his thoughts.

"Have you ever seen this wandering Selford?"

"Only once, when he was a boy, whilst he was at school. He has written to me; in fact, I had a letter やめる recently. I will get you the letter, if it would 利益／興味 you? Are you very much 利益／興味d in Lord Selford?"

"Very much," he said emphatically.

She went out of the room and （機の）カム 支援する with a small 木造の box, which she opened. She sorted out a number of letters and presently placed one before him. It was from Berlin, and had been written in April of 1914:

'DEAR AUNT,
It is so many years since I have written to you, or you have heard from me, that I am almost ashamed to 令状. But knowing how 利益／興味d you are in queer 磁器, I am sending you by 登録（する）d 地位，任命する an old German beer 襲う，襲って強奪する of the fifteenth century.
Yours affectionately, PIERCE.'

The handwriting was the same as he had seen in Mr Havelock's office.

"Of course, I'm not his aunt," said Mrs Lansdown, still searching amongst the letters. "I am in reality his cousin twice 除去するd. Here is another letter."

This, 刑事 saw, was sent from an hotel in Colombo, and was only a year old:

'I am making 広大な／多数の／重要な 進歩 with my 調書をとる／予約する, though it is rather absurd to call a collection of disjointed 公式文書，認めるs (as it is at 現在の) by such an important 肩書を与える. I cannot tell you how sorry I was to hear of your 広大な／多数の／重要な trouble. Is there anything I can do? You have only to 命令（する） me. Please see Mr Havelock and show him this letter. I have already written to him, 権限を与えるing him to 支払う／賃金 you any money you may 要求する.'

刑事 did not ask what the trouble had been. He guessed, from the 黒人／ボイコット which Mrs Lansdown still wore, that her loss was a 最近の one.

"I did not see Mr Havelock, of course, though he very kindly wrote to me on 領収書 of Pierce's letter, 申し込む／申し出ing his help. And now that I've 満足させるd your curiosity, Mr ツバメ, perhaps you will 満足させる 地雷. What are these alarming 指示／教授／教育s you give us, and why should we be 用意が出来ている to leave town at any hour of the day or night?"

Sybil had been a silent but 利益／興味d audience, but now she 主張するd her 見解（をとる）s.

"I'm sure Mr ツバメ wouldn't ask us to do anything that was absurd, mother," she said; "and if he wishes us to be ready to leave at a second's notice, I think we should do as he asks. It is in 関係 with the 重要な?" She turned her 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な 注目する，もくろむs on 刑事.

"Yes," he said, "and something else. As I say, I'm only groping for the moment. 確かな facts are definitely 設立するd in my mind beyond question. But there are others which have got to be worked out."

He asked Mrs Lansdown if she had heard of Stalletti, but she shook her 長，率いる.

"Do you know Mr Cody?" he asked, and she thought hard for a long time.

"No, I don't think I do," she replied.

CHAPTER XIII

A FEW minutes later 刑事 took his leave, and walked 負かす／撃墜する に向かって Bedford Square. Once or twice he looked 支援する. On the opposite 味方する of the road a man was keeping pace with him about twenty yards to his 後部. すぐに behind him was another saunterer. At the corner of Bedford Square a taxi-cab was waiting, and the driver あられ／賞賛するd him 緊急に. But 刑事 ignored the 招待. He was taking no 危険s tonight. The two men he might を取り引きする, but trouble を待つing him in a strange taxicab might be more difficult to 打ち勝つ.

Presently he saw a taxi coming に向かって him, and, stopping the driver, got in and was driven to the 駅／配置する Hotel. Through the glass at the 支援する of the car he saw another taxi に引き続いて him. When he paid off his own at the 入り口 of the hotel, he 観察するd, out of the corner of his 注目する，もくろむ, the second taxi pull up some distance away and two men get out. 刑事 調書をとる／予約するd a room, gave the cloakroom ticket to a porter, and slipped through the 味方する 入り口 which opens 直接／まっすぐに on to the 駅／配置する 壇・綱領・公約. A train was on the move as he 現れるd, and, sprinting along, he pulled open a carriage door and jumped in.

For all he knew, he might be in the Scottish 表明する, whose first stop would be in the 早期に hours of the morning somewhere in the neighbourhood of 乗組員. But, fortunately for him, the train was a 地元の one, and at Willesden he was able to alight and 支払う／賃金 his fare to the ticket-collector. 飛び込み 負かす／撃墜する to the electric 駅／配置する, he arrived on the 堤防 an hour after he had left the Lansdowns' flat.

Two hundred yards from the 駅／配置する is a grim building, approached under a covered arch, and this was 刑事's 目的地. The constable on 義務 at the door 認めるd him.

"視察官 Sneed is upstairs if you want him, Mr ツバメ," he said.

"I want nobody else," said 刑事, and went up the 石／投石する stairs two at a time.

Sneed was in his 議長，司会を務める, an uninspiring man. The 長，指導者 commissioner once said of him that he 連合させるd the imagination of a schoolgirl with the physical 率先 of a bedridden octogenarian.

He sat as usual in a big armchair behind his large desk; a 解雇する／砲火／射撃 燃やすd on the tiled hearth; a dead cigar was between his teeth and he was nodding. He was at Scotland Yard at this hour because he had not had 十分な energy to rise from his 議長，司会を務める and go home at seven o'clock. This happened on an 普通の／平均（する） five nights a week.

He opened his 注目する，もくろむs and 調査するd the newcomer without any particular favour.

"I'm very busy," he murmured. "Can't give you more than a minute."

刑事 sat 負かす／撃墜する at the opposite 味方する of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and grinned.

"Ask Morpheus to put you 負かす／撃墜する on your feet, and listen to this." And then be began to talk, and almost at the first 宣告，判決 the 長，指導者 視察官's 注目する，もくろむs opened wide. Before 刑事 ツバメ had been talking for ten minutes there was not a man in New Scotland Yard more wide awake than this stout, bald, どろぼう-taker.

"You've got this out of a story-調書をとる／予約する," he （刑事）被告, when 刑事 paused for breath. "You're passing across the 最新の mystery story by the celebrated Mr Doyle."

And then 刑事 went on with his narrative, and at the end Sneed 圧力（をかける）d a bell. After a long time his sergeant （機の）カム into the room.

"Sergeant," said Sneed, "I want one man at the 前線 and one man at the 支援する of 107 Coram Street. I want your best 影をつくる／尾行する to follow Mr ツバメ from tomorrow, and that man must sleep at Mr ツバメ's flat every night. Got that?"

The officer was jotting 負かす／撃墜する his 指示／教授／教育s in a notebook.

"Tomorrow morning get through to the 長，指導者 Constable of Sussex, and tell him I want to （警察の）手入れ，急襲 Gallows Cottage, Gallows Hill, at eleven-fifteen pip-emma. I'll bring my own men and he can have a couple of his handy to see fair play. That's about the lot, sergeant."

When he had gone, Sneed rose with a groan from his 議長，司会を務める.

"I suppose I had better be getting along. I'll walk 支援する with you to your flat."

"You'll do nothing of the 肉親，親類d," said 刑事 ungraciously. "To be seen out with you is like wearing my 指名する and licence. I'll get 支援する into the flat—don't worry."

"Wait a bit. Before you go—the fellow who attacked you in the 運動 at Gallows Cottage was a naked man, you say?"

"Nearly naked."

"Stalletti," mused the 視察官. "I wonder if he's been up to his old tricks. I got him three months for that."

"What were his old tricks?" 需要・要求するd 悪賢い.

Sneed was lighting his cigar with slow, noisy puffs.

"配列し直すing the human race," he said.

"A little thing like that?" said 刑事 sardonically.

"Just that." Sneed 検査／視察するd the ragged end of his cigar with disfavour. "Got that 少しのd from a man who せねばならない know better than try to 毒（薬） the 主要都市の constabulary," he said. "Yes, that was Stalletti's kink. His theory was that, if you took a baby of two or three years old, and brought it up wild, same as you'd bring up any other animal, you'd get something that didn't want 着せる／賦与するs, didn't want to talk, but a perfect 見本／標本 of human. He reckoned that men せねばならない be ten feet high, and his general theory was that all the life-energy—that's the 表現—that flows into human brains and human thought, せねばならない be directed to making muscle and bone. I guess you've come upon one of his 実験s—I'll put him away for life if I find anybody in his house, dressed or undressed, who can't （一定の）期間 c-a-t, cat."

刑事 left Scotland Yard by the Whitehall 入り口, a cab having been brought from the 堤防, and he was 始める，決める 負かす／撃墜する at the loneliest part of the Outer Circle which encircles Regent's Park. By this time he knew that the 管理人 would be off 義務 and the 入り口 doors of the flats の近くにd. The little street was 砂漠d when he turned in, making a circuitous way through the mews at the 支援する of the buildings. He opened the outer door, passed quickly up the stairs and into his apartment. He stopped long enough to shoot the bolts in the door, then, switching on the lights, he went from room to room and made a の近くに 査察. Everything was as he had left it.

Before he had gone out that evening, he had drawn the 激しい curtains over the windows of the room he ーするつもりであるd using. He had lowered even the kitchen blind, so that, on his return (as he ーするつもりであるd to return), no light could be seen by a 選挙立会人 on the outside.

As he changed his coat for the old 狙撃 jacket, he remembered, with a little grimace of disgust, the morning when he had 設立する poor Lew. What had Lew seen in the tomb of the Selfords? What 丸天井 had he been asked to 打ち明ける in that '広大な／多数の／重要な 穴を開ける dugge in the earth'?

He brewed himself a マリファナ of coffee, and, putting on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する one of the six stout 容積／容量s that had come that afternoon, he began his search. The London Gazette is not 正確に／まさに as amusing as a Moliere comedy, but 刑事 設立する these pages, filled with 記録，記録的な／記録するs of 破産s and judgments, of enthralling 利益／興味. It was past two o'clock when he gathered his 公式文書，認めるs together, put them in a small 安全な, went into his bedroom and undressed.

Turning out the light, he pulled aside the curtains and, 開始 his window, looked out. A 病弱なing moon 棒 in a cloudless sky; a gentle 勝利，勝つd was blowing, as he discovered when he got into bed, for it moved the dark blind so that a perpendicular streak of moonlight, which changed its 形態／調整 with every movement of the blind, lay 負かす／撃墜する the bedroom 塀で囲む. Within a few minutes of punching his pillow into 形態／調整, 刑事 had fallen into a dreamless slumber.

He was the lightest of sleepers, and it seemed to him that he had hardly の近くにd his 注目する，もくろむs before he was wide awake again.

What had 乱すd him he could not remember. It might have been the flapping of the blind, but he decided that that was a noise which he had already 割引d before he had gone to sleep. He lay on his left 味方する, 直面するing the door, which was 紅潮／摘発する with the 塀で囲む against which the 長，率いる of the bed 残り／休憩（する）d. He must have been asleep for some かなりの time, he decided, for the moonlight streak that had been over the bureau had now reached to within a foot of his bed, and lay 正確に／まさに along the 辛勝する／優位 of the doorway. Even as he looked, he saw the door moving, slowly but certainly; and then there （機の）カム into 見解（をとる）, hideously （疑いを）晴らす in the moonlight, a 手渡す. A 手渡す, but such a 手渡す as he had never seen before. The 広大な／多数の／重要な 厚い fingers were like the tentacles of an octopus; blunt at their points, the 肌 about the knuckles wrinkled, the fat thumb squat. It was 持つ／拘留するing the 辛勝する／優位 of the door, 押し進めるing it slowly inward.

In a second he had rolled out of bed on the opposite 味方する and dropped to the 床に打ち倒す, as something big and 激しい leapt on to the bed with a guttural 残忍な cry that was terrible to hear.

As 刑事 dropped, his left 手渡す thrust 上向き under the pillow and gripped the Browning that was there. So doing, his 明らかにする forearm touched for a second the 支援する of a swollen 手渡す, and he had for a moment a sense of physical sickness. 直面するing his unseen enemy, he reached 支援する for the blind, and with one jerk tore it 負かす／撃墜する. 即時に the room was flooded with moonlight. Save for himself, it was empty!

The door was wide open, and, changing his ピストル 手渡す, he reached 一連の会議、交渉／完成する for the switch of the light that lit the hall. At a ちらりと見ること he saw that the 前線 door was still locked and bolted, but that the door of the kitchenette was wide open. So also was the window when he got there, and, bending over the アイロンをかける rail of the balcony, he saw a 形態／調整 scuttling 負かす／撃墜する a rope ladder fastened to the balcony rail. As he searched the yard with his 注目する，もくろむs, the 人物／姿／数字 消えるd into the 影をつくる／尾行するs.

He waited, listening, looking 負かす／撃墜する into the mews, hoping to get another glimpse of his 加害者. Then he heard the soft purr of a モーター-car, that grew fainter and fainter, and presently passed from 審理，公聴会.

刑事 went into his 熟考する／考慮する. The clock pointed to four, and in the east the sky was already paling. Who was this unknown 殺害者? He was 満足させるd that it was the same man who had attacked him at Gallows House.

He pulled up the rope ladder. It was an amateur 事件／事情／状勢, evidently home-made, for the rungs were of rough, unshaven 支持を得ようと努めるd, and the supporting rope 手渡す-plaited. How they got on to the little balcony outside the kitchen door was a mystery, though he 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd that a 石／投石する 大（公）使館員d to twine had been thrown over the 事業／計画（する）ing rail, and that first a cord and then a ladder had been pulled up. That this surmise was not far from the truth, he discovered when daylight （機の）カム and he was able to search the 中庭 below. Here he 設立する cord and string, and to the latter was 大（公）使館員d a small アイロンをかける bolt. It was 平易な enough, now he （機の）カム to 診察する the 罪，犯罪 in the light of knowledge. By this way had come the 殺害者 of Lew Pheeney. The 支援する of Clargate Gardens looks on to a mews, from which there were two egresses, and only a 塀で囲む need be surmounted to reach the 覆うd 中庭 すぐに behind the flats; かもしれない not ten minutes had elapsed between the arrival of the 暗殺者 and that moonlight 見通し of his hideous 手渡す.

Day had come now, and 刑事 was reeling with weariness. He threw himself 負かす／撃墜する on the bed, half dressed as he was, pulled the coverlet over him, and was すぐに asleep.

CHAPTER XIV

IT WAS the （犯罪の）一味ing of the telephone bell that woke him. He rolled over on the bed and took 負かす／撃墜する the receiver.

"Hullo!" he said, in 本物の surprise. "Your 発言する／表明する was the last in the world I 推定する／予想するd to hear."

There was a little laugh at the other end of the phone.

"You 認めるd it? That's rather clever of you. I （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する to see you half an hour ago, but the hall porter was 確かな that you were not in."

"Is anything wrong?" he asked quickly.

There was a little hesitancy.

"N-no," said Sybil Lansdown. "Only I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to—協議する with you. That is the technical 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語, isn't it?"

"Come along by all means. I will mollify the porter."

She did not know why the porter should need mollification until she arrived. He had had no time to shave, to do any more than jump in and out of the bath, and he was in the throes of cooking when he opened the door to her.

"The truth is," he said, "I've sent my housekeeper away—that's rather a grand 指名する for a daily help, but it impresses most people."

"Then I'll be impressed," she laughed, and 匂いをかぐd. "What is that 燃やすing?"

He clasped his forehead and flew into the kitchenette, the girl at his heels.

"When you fry eggs," she said 厳しく, "you usually put fat in the pan. You are not 国内の, Mr ツバメ. And what on earth is that?"

She pointed to the 天然のまま rope ladder that lay in the corner of the kitchen.

"My 解雇する／砲火／射撃 escape," he said glibly. "I'm one of those 脅すd folk who can't go to sleep unless they're sure that they're not going to be roasted —with or without fat," he 追加するd maliciously, "before they wake."

She was looking at him suspiciously.

"It never occurred to me that you were that 肉親，親類d of man," she said, and sliced the eggs scientifically from the pan on to a plate. "Twelve o'clock is disgracefully late for breakfast, but I'll wait till you have finished. You have just got up, I suppose? Did I wake you?"

"You did," he 自白するd. "Now, 行方不明になる Lansdown, what is troubling you?"

"Finish your breakfast," she ordered, and was 毅然とした to his wheedling until he had drunk his coffee. "I was talking to mother last night after you'd left. I'm afraid you've rather worried her. And you need not feel penitent about it, because I realize that you only said as much as you thought necessary. We had a long, long talk, and the upshot of it was, I went to see Mr Havelock this morning, and I told him all about my Portuguese trip and the 出来事/事件 of the 重要な. Mr Havelock was very worried, and he wants me to have police 保護. In fact, I had the greatest difficulty in dissuading him from telephoning to Scotland Yard. I then made a suggestion to him, which rather surprised him, I think."

"What was the suggestion?"

"I won't tell you. I'd like to spring my surprise on you without 警告. Have you a car?"

He nodded.

"Will it 持つ／拘留する three?"

"Who is the other?" asked 刑事, nettled at the thought that what at first had 約束d to be a tête-à-tête was to be spoiled by the 傾向 of a third person.

"Mr Havelock. We are going 負かす／撃墜する to Selford Hall—and the tombs of the Selfords," she 追加するd 劇的な.

A slow smile 夜明けd on 刑事's 直面する.

"You're certainly a mind-reader, for I was taking that trip this afternoon—alone."

"You wouldn't have been able to see the tombs alone," said the girl; "and I 警告する you it's an awfully creepy place. In fact, mother isn't 特に keen on my going 負かす／撃墜する with you. Mr Havelock has very kindly agreed to come, and I'm relieved, because be knows the place and its history. We are to call for him at half-past two at his office. And will you bring the 重要な you have?"

"The two 重要なs," he 訂正するd. "I'm sort of collecting 重要なs just now. Yes, I'll be there."

She gathered up her 捕らえる、獲得する and rose.

"What is the mystery?" he asked, sensing from her 空気／公表する of 静かな 勝利 that she had made some important 発見.

"You will know this afternoon," she said.

He saw her from the door, took off his coat, and shaved, and by one o'clock he had retrieved the 重要なs from his 銀行業者, and just before half-past one his car drew up at the door of 107, Coram Street. The girl was waiting for him, for no sooner had he knocked than the door opened and she appeared.

"Have you the 重要なs?" she asked, almost before he had 迎える／歓迎するd her. "Mother doesn't like my going. She is nervous about anything connected with the Selford family."

"What is the mystery?" he asked.

"You shall see. I fed in my most mysterious mood. You 港／避難所't asked me why I'm not at the library. It is 創立者's Day, and to celebrate the birth of the man who opened the library—we の近くに it! Are you a good driver?"

"I have few equals," he 認める modestly.

"But are you a good driver?"

It was only then, as she chattered on inconsequently, that he realized that she was a little overwrought; perhaps some of her mother's nervousness had been communicated to her. Certainly, if she had a premonition of danger, that terrible day was to 正当化する her 恐れるs. If 刑事 had half guessed what horrors lurked in the （競技場の）トラック一周 of that warm spring day, he would have driven the car into the nearest lamp-地位，任命する.

The machine turned into Lincoln's Inn Fields and stopped before the Havelock building. When Mr Havelock （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する to the car, he was smiling 概して, as though there were an element of humour in the adventure. "How does it feel," he asked, as the car moved 西方の, "for a 探偵，刑事 to receive a 手がかり（を与える） from an amateur? Are you very much chagrined at 行方不明になる Lansdown's remarkable theory?"

"I 港／避難所't heard the theory," said 刑事, skilfully dodging between a bus and a taxicab. "I've got my thrill coming."

"I hope you will get it," said Havelock dryly. "率直に, I would not have come on this little jaunt but for the fact that my 月毎の visit to Selford Hall is 予定, and a lawyer never loses an 適切な時期 of saving unnecessary expenses. You, Mr ツバメ, will appear in the expense sheet of the Selford 広い地所 as a 義務／負債!"

Like other men whose jokes were infrequent, he was amused at the slightest of his own jests.

The car flew through Horsham, bore to the 権利 on to the Pulborough Road, and, nearly two hours after they had left the City, it pulled up before a pair of 課すing 宿泊する gates. At the sound of the horn an untidy-looking woman （機の）カム from the 宿泊する, opened the gates, and dropped a curtsey to Mr Havelock as the car sped up a 井戸／弁護士席-tended 運動.

"We have to keep the place in spick and （期間が）わたる order," explained Mr Havelock; "and one of my 職業s is to engage a staff of servants the moment our globe-trotting young lord decides to settle 負かす／撃墜する in his native land."

"Are there any servants in the hall itself?" asked 刑事.

Havelock shook his 長，率いる.

"A 管理人 and his wife only," he said. "Once a month we have a 次第で変わる／派遣部隊 of women in from the village to clean up and dust and polish. As a 事柄 of fact, the place is in a very good 明言する／公表する of 修理, and why he doesn't let it is beyond my understanding. By the way," he said suddenly, "I had a letter from him this morning. He is 延期するing his arrival till December, which probably means that he won't be home this winter."

"Where is he now?" asked 刑事, looking over his shoulder.

Mr Havelock smiled.

"I shouldn't like to be very explicit on the 支配する. He was at Cairo when the Egyptian mail left. He's probably now in Damascus or Jerusalem. I don't mind 自白するing that I often wish him in Jericho!"

At that moment the Hall （機の）カム into 見解（をとる）; a Tudor house of 厳しい and unpleasing lines. To 刑事's untutored 注目する，もくろむ it had the 外見 of a large brick barn, to which 新たな展開d chimneys and gables had been 追加するd. The car drew up at the 幅の広い gravelled space before the porch.

"We'd better get 負かす／撃墜する here. We have a mile walk across the rough," said Havelock.

At the sound of the car wheels the 管理人, a middle-老年の man, had appeared, and with him the lawyer 交流d a few words about the 広い地所. It seemed that the 管理人 was also 事実上の／代理 as （強制）執行官, for he 報告（する）／憶測d a 盗品故買者 that needed 修理ing, and an oak that had been uprooted in a 最近の 嵐／襲撃する.

"Now, then," said Havelock. He had brought a walking-stick with him, and led the way across the 幅の広い lawn which, 刑事 公式文書，認めるd, had recently been 削減（する）, through an orchard into a farmyard, which was untenanted save for half a dozen chickens and a dog, and through another gate into the park. Though there was no road, there was a 限定された pathway which led across the 幅の広い acres, skirting and half-encircling the 法外な bluff under which the house was built, through a spinney, and at last into a shallow valley, on the opposite 味方する of which stood a long, dark line of trees.

As they climbed the gentle slope that led to the 支持を得ようと努めるd, 刑事 was struck by the lifelessness of the dark copse, which he would have 認めるd from Mrs Lansdown's description. The trees, with their green, dank-looking boles, seemed dead in spite of their new greenness. Not a leaf stirred upon that airless day, and to 追加する to the gloom, a big 雷鳴-cloud was rising 速く beyond the bluff, showing defined 辛勝する／優位s of livid grey against the blue sky.

"It is going to rain, I'm afraid," said Mr Havelock, ちらりと見ることing up. "We are nearly there."

The path became 明白な again; it led a serpentine course through the trees, 開始するing all the time. And then, 突然に, they （機の）カム into a （疑いを）晴らすing, in the middle of which was a 広大な／多数の／重要な ドーム-形態／調整d 激しく揺する.

"This is called the Selford 石／投石する," explained Mr Havelock, pointing with his stick; "and that is the 入り口 to the tombs."

削減（する） in the 直面する of the 激しく揺する was an oblong 開始, covered by a steel 取調べ／厳しく尋問する, red with rust, but, as 刑事 saw, of enormous strength. Mr Havelock put 負かす／撃墜する the lanterns he had been carrying, and lit them one by one before he took from his pocket a big, 古代の-looking 重要な, and 挿入するd it in the rusty lock. With a turn of his wrist the 区 snapped 支援する and the door of the アイロンをかける 取調べ／厳しく尋問する opened squeakily.

"Let me go first."

The lawyer stooped and went 負かす／撃墜する a flight of moss-covered steps. The girl followed. 悪賢い bringing up the 後部. There were twelve of these steps, the 探偵，刑事 counted, and by the light of a lantern he saw a small 丸天井d room, at the end of which was another steel 取調べ／厳しく尋問する of はしけ make. The same 重要な 明らかに fitted both.

Beyond the second door the solid 激しく揺する had been hollowed out into twenty tiny chapels. They looked for all the world like refectory 独房s, with their 激しい oaken doors and 抱擁する hinges, and on each had been carved a string of 指名するs, some of which, as 刑事 設立する when he tried to read them, were now indecipherable, where the 支持を得ようと努めるd had rotted.

The chapels ran along two 味方するs of the 狭くする passage in which they stood, and at the very end was the twenty-first 独房, which 異なるd from all the others in that its door was of 石／投石する, or so it appeared at first ちらりと見ること. It 異なるd, too, in another 尊敬（する）・点, as 刑事 was to discover. Mr Havelock turned to him and held up the lantern, that the 訪問者 might better see.

"Here is what 行方不明になる Lansdown wishes you to see," he said slowly. "The door with the seven locks!"

刑事 星／主役にするd at the door. There they were, one under the other. Seven circular bosses on the door, each with its long 重要な slit.

Now he knew. It was to this awful place that Lew Pheeney had been led to work under the 恐れる of death!

The door was enclosed in a fantastic でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる and gruesomely ornamented. A 石／投石する 骸骨／概要 was carved on each 中心存在; so real they looked that even 刑事 was startled. He tapped the door with his knuckles; it was solid—how solid, he soon learned.

"Who is in here?" he said, and Havelock's finger pointed to the inscription:

"SIR HUGHE SELLFORDE, Kt 創立者 of ye Sellforde Houfe.

"Heare I wayte as 静かな as a moufe Fownder of the Sellforde Houfe A curfe on whosoever mocks Who lieth 急速な／放蕩な with feven lockes. Godde have mercie."

"The inscription is of a much later period than Hugh's death," said Havelock.

"What is in there? Is he—buried here?" said 刑事 slowly. Mr Havelock shook his 長，率いる. "I don't know. The late Lord Selford, who had the old door with its seven locks taken 負かす／撃墜する, and this new door—which is steel, by the way—made in Italy, said there was nothing except an empty 石／投石する casket; and, indeed, nothing can be seen."

"Seen?" repeated the girl in surprise. "How is it possible to see?"

There was a little パネル盤 about six インチs in length and two インチs 幅の広い, 明らかに part of the solid door, and running across its centre. Mr Havelock caught its bevelled 辛勝する／優位 between his finger and thumb and it moved aside, leaving a small aperture not an インチ in depth. "I せねばならない have brought an electric たいまつ," he said.

"I've got one," said 刑事, and, taking a small lamp from his pocket, he held it up 近づく to his 注目する，もくろむs and sent the light into the 内部の.

He looked into a 独房 about six feet square. The 塀で囲むs were green and damp; the rudely carved 石／投石する 床に打ち倒す was 厚い with dust. In the very centre, 残り／休憩（する）ing on a rough 石／投石する altar, was an oblong, box-形態／調整d sarcophagus of 崩壊するing 石／投石する.

"The 石／投石する box? I don't know what that is," said Havelock. "Lord Selford 設立する it in the tomb and left it as it was. There was no 調印する of a 団体／死体 —"

Suddenly the passage was lit by a blue, 恐ろしい 炎上, that flickered for a second and was gone. The girl, with a gasp of fright, clung to 刑事's arm.

"雷," said Havelock calmly. "I'm afraid we're going to have a wet 旅行 支援する to town."

Even as he spoke, the hoarse roar of 雷鳴 shook the earth. It was followed by another flash of 雷, that 明らかにする／漏らすd the ghostly doors of the dead on either 味方する, and sent the girl 縮むing against the 探偵，刑事.

"We'll not get wet, anyway," said 刑事, patting the shoulder of the trembling girl. "There's a whole lot of nonsense talked about 嵐／襲撃するs. They're the most beautiful demonstrations that nature sends. Why, when I was in Manitoba—"

The flash was followed 即時に by a deafening 爆発.

"Something's 攻撃する，衝突する," said 刑事 calmly.

And then, from the far end of the passage, （機の）カム the sound of the clanging of metal against metal.

"What was that?" he asked, and, 飛行機で行くing along the passage, dashed through the outer ロビー, up the slippery stairs to the 入り口 gates.

A flash of 雷 blinded him for a second; the 雷鳴 衝突，墜落 that （機の）カム on 最高の，を越す of it was deafening; but he had seen what he had 恐れるd. The 広大な／多数の／重要な アイロンをかける 取調べ／厳しく尋問する had been shut on them, and on the wet clay before the door he saw the prints of naked feet!

CHAPTER XV

SYBIL AND Havelock had followed closely behind him. Havelock's 直面する had lost its rubicund colour, and the 手渡す that went up to shake at the rail was trembling.

"What foolery is this?" he said 怒って, and the quavering 公式文書，認める may have been 予定 to his annoyance.

Suddenly 刑事's ピストル leapt up. Twice he 解雇する／砲火／射撃d at the 人物／姿／数字 he glimpsed through the dripping rhododendrons. It had grown in a few minutes from 有望な sunlight to a gloom that was almost terrifying. The clouds sent the rain hissing in his 直面する, but the nicker of 雷 had given him a glimpse of the 抱擁する, fleshy 武器.

"Oh, don't shoot; please—please don't!" The girl was sobbing, her 長，率いる on his breast, and 刑事 dropped his ピストル.

"You have a 重要な to open the gate?" he asked in a low 発言する／表明する, and Havelock nodded.

"Give it to me."

ツバメ took the 重要な from the shaking 手渡す, put his arm through the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s and 挿入するd it in the lock. A sharp 新たな展開 of his wrist and the door was 押し進めるd open.

"Go on ahead; I won't be far behind you."

He dashed into the bushes where he had seen the 人物／姿／数字, and he saw that he bad not altogether failed, for on the long yellow cylinder that lay on the grass was a spatter of 血. He turned the cylinder over; it was about four feet in length and immensely 激しい. 大（公）使館員d to the nozzle was a rubber tube about an インチ in 直径. Searching around, he 設立する a second cylinder, with a 類似の 器具／備品. At the nozzle end of this 最新の find was a circular red label which had evidently been scratched off its fellow. W.D. Chlorine Gas. 扱う Carefully. 毒（薬）. There was no 調印する of the half-naked man, and he started off at a run to 追いつく Sybil.

The 雷 flashed incessantly, and there was scarcely an interval between the peals of 雷鳴. Both the girl and Mr Havelock were as pale as death when he caught them up.

"What was it? Whom did you 解雇する／砲火／射撃 at?" asked Havelock huskily.

"神経s," said 刑事, without shame. By the time they reached the house they were wet through, but he 拒絶する／低下するd the 招待 to go into the Hall and 乾燥した，日照りの his 着せる／賦与するs. He had work to do, and no sooner had the door の近くにd on the girl than he was on his way 支援する to the Selford tombs.

As he approached the 支持を得ようと努めるd he proceeded with 警告を与える, searching left and 権利 and keeping his 注目する，もくろむs on those little 捨てるs of bushes which afforded cover. The 負傷させるd man was nowhere in sight.

He had slipped the 重要な of the catacombs into his pocket, and now, having opened the 取調べ／厳しく尋問する, he took a pair of 手錠s from his hip pocket, snapped them at the 最高の，を越す and 底（に届く） of the lock, so that it was impossible for the door to の近くに. This done, he descended the steps, and, flashing his lamp before him, he （機の）カム to the door of the seven locks. From an inside pocket of his waistcoat he took out the two 重要なs and tried one of them on the 最高の，を越す keyhole, without producing any result. It was not until he had got to the fourth slit that the 重要な slipped in and turned with a click. He pulled gently, but the door did not budge. He tried with the second of the 重要なs, and 設立する that it fitted the last of the locks. Turning them both together, he pulled again, but the door did not move.

The mystery of the door was very （疑いを）晴らす to 刑事 ツバメ. Seven 重要なs had to turn 同時に before the door would open; and when it opened, what was there to see? He drew 支援する the パネル盤 and looked at the 石／投石する urn. If the 古代の Sir Hugh was buried here, was his 団体／死体 in that casket?

It was impossible to see the 味方する 塀で囲むs in their entirety, but from what 見解（をとる） he got it seemed ありそうもない that there could be any hidden sepulchre. The long shelf 削減（する） in the solid 激しく揺する (which he now saw for the first time) had in all probability held all that was mortal of the first Selford, but no trace remained of him.

Pocketing the 重要なs, he went 支援する, の近くにing and locking the middle door, and 上がるd the steps into the daylight. Here he had a shock. Not a dozen feet from the mouth of the tomb was one of the long yellow cylinders which he had last seen fifty feet away. The beast-man, then, was somewhere at 手渡す; in all 見込み was watching him at this moment with hateful 注目する，もくろむs. In spite of his self-所有／入手, a little shiver ran 負かす／撃墜する 刑事 ツバメ's spine. There was something obscene about this strange visitant.

He 解除するd the 激しい cylinder, walked a few paces and flung it into the bushes, and then followed the path through the trees.

He had an almost overpowering 願望（する） to run. He 認めるd with horror that he was on the 瀬戸際 of panic, and it needed but this 発見 to swing him 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to 直面する the way he had come. Slowly, and against every natural instinct, he walked 支援する through the forest に向かって where the cylinder was, to where his enemy was hiding. Coming to the 辛勝する／優位 of the （疑いを）晴らすing, he waited a 十分な minute. Having thus 教えるd his 神経s, he continued on his way to the house, never once looking 支援する, but all his 神経s taut.

It was with a feeling very much like 救済 that he reached the open valley and the 慰安ing sight of the ugly home of the Selfords. The 冷淡な malignity of this 残忍な creature; his persistence, 負傷させるd as he was, to destroy the man against whom his 敵意 had been 誘発するd; the deadly earnestness of him—all these things were impressive. This 偶発の 協会 with the door of seven 重要なs that hid nothing 明らかに but dust had brought him into deadly 危険，危なくする—had it also 危険にさらすd Sybil Lansdown? At the thought, something gripped at his heart. It was all so unreal, so unbelievable.

A member of the everyday world who suddenly 設立する himself in a community of pixies and fairies could be no more bewildered than was Richard ツバメ at the 発覚s which had followed one on the other during the past three days. 罪，犯罪 he knew, or thought he knew; and 犯罪のs were an open 調書をとる／予約する to him. His 青年 had been spent amongst these evaders and breakers of the 法律. They had taught him their 悪意のある tricks; he had become proficient in their practices. He knew the way their minds worked, and could—and would, since he was something of a writer—have 用意が出来ている a passable textbook on 犯罪の psychology.

But now he was out of the world of real 罪，犯罪. Only once before had he had that experience, when it was his 義務 to 調査／捜査する a 一連の terrible 事故s which had shocked Toronto to its depths. Here he had met for the first time the amateur 犯罪の and 設立する himself at sea. But for the greatest good luck, the man he sought would have escaped （犯罪，病気などの）発見. As it was, he 事実上 betrayed himself. The 犯罪の mind is not a brilliant one; its 見解（をとる） is commonplace, its 見通し 狭くする and 制限するd. The 普通の／平均（する） 犯罪の lives meanly, from 手渡す to mouth, and is without reserves, either of 援助 in committing a 罪，犯罪 or in covering his 退却／保養地.

罪，犯罪 is an ugly word, he thought, as he paced slowly に向かって the house. Up to now, beyond the 試みる／企てるs which this unknown 加害者 of his had made, no 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 could 嘘（をつく） against any discoverable man. Except Lew Pheeney! Poor Lew, he had belonged to the real world. What agony of mind had he 苦しむd when, in the dark of the night, he had 設立する himself working on that awful door.

He was soaked to the 肌, but was not aware of the fact until, with a gasp of 狼狽, the girl drew attention to his sodden coat just as he was taking his place at the wheel.

"Did you go 支援する to look for the gate locker?" asked Mr Havelock, who had returned to his old buoyant manner.

"Yes," said 悪賢い, as he started the car. "I didn't find him, though. Traces of him—yes, but not him."

"Was he 負傷させるd?" asked Sybil quickly.

"井戸／弁護士席, if he was 負傷させるd, it wasn't serious," said 刑事 慎重に.

"I wish to heaven you had killed the brute," snapped Havelock viciously. "Brr!"

He had borrowed an overcoat from the 管理人, and dozed in this all the way to town. They overtook and passed through a corner of the 嵐／襲撃する 近づく Leatherhead. But the three people were too 占領するd with their own thoughts even to notice the 出来事/事件. They put Mr Havelock 負かす／撃墜する at his house in St John's 支持を得ようと努めるd, and Sybil, who was feeling very 有罪の for having brought an 年輩の man on this unpleasant adventure, was 都合よく apologetic.

"It is nothing, and I'm really not so wet as our friend," said Mr Havelock good-humouredly. "And I'm certainly not worried about what we saw. It is what I didn't see that 関心s me."

"What you didn't see?" repeated the girl.

Havelock nodded. "Our friend has discovered a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 more than he has told us, and I'm not so sure that the 発見 is a pleasant one. However, we will talk about that in the morning."

He hurried into his house, and 刑事 turned the car に向かって Coram Street.

"I won't let you come in, Mr ツバメ," she said, when he 始める，決める her 負かす／撃墜する. "Will you 約束 to go straight home and take a hot bath and change your 着せる／賦与するs at once?"

It was a 約束 平易な to make, for his soul ached for the smell of hot water.

He was no sooner out of his bath and into 乾燥した，日照りの 着せる／賦与するs than he called up Sneed.

"I'm sorry to wake you up," said 刑事 exultantly, "but I wonder if you would come along and have dinner with me? I have three 一時期／支部s to tell you."

Sneed grunted his 不満 with the 計画／陰謀, but after a while he agreed, though his 約束 was so vague and garnished with so many 保留（地）／予約s that 刑事 was surprised when the bell rang and he opened the door to the big man, who walked wearily into the 熟考する／考慮する and dropped into the first comfortable 議長，司会を務める.

"Got the 令状 for that （警察の）手入れ，急襲 tonight," he said. "We operate at ten o'clock."

"You told the 長，指導者 Constable of Sussex eleven-fifteen," said 刑事, in surprise.

視察官 Sneed sighed. "I want to get it over before the 地元の Sherlocks arrive," he said. "Besides, somebody might tip off Stalletti. You never know. 信用 nobody, 刑事, not in our profession. I suppose you 港／避難所't spilt this story to anybody?"

刑事 hesitated. "Yes, I've told a little to Mr Havelock, and, of course, a lot to 行方不明になる Lansdown."

Sneed groaned. "Havelock's all 権利, but the lady—oh, my heavens! Never 信用 a woman, my son. I thought that was the first article in a policeman's creed. She'll be having people in to tea and telling 'em all about it. I know women."

"Have you told anybody?" 需要・要求するd 刑事.

視察官's Sneed's smile was very superior.

"Nobody except the 長，指導者 and my wife," he said inconsistently. "A wife's different. Besides, she's got toothache and she hates 開始 her mouth anyway. A woman with toothache never betrays a 信用／信任. Make a 公式文書，認める of that when you 令状 your 調書をとる／予約する."

It was the 視察官's belief that every police officer in the 軍隊 was 内密に engaged in 準備するing his reminiscences; a delusion of his which had its justification in a recently printed 一連の articles that had appeared in a Sunday newspaper.

"Now, what have you got to tell me?"

He listened with の近くにd 注目する，もくろむs whilst ツバメ told him of the afternoon spent at the Selford tombs. When he （機の）カム to the part where the アイロンをかける 取調べ／厳しく尋問する had been locked on the party, Sneed opened his 注目する，もくろむs and sat up.

"Somebody else had a 重要な," he said unnecessarily. "Nothing in that 丸天井, you say?"

"Nothing that I could see, except the 石／投石する casket," said ツバメ.

"Humph!" He passed the palm of his 手渡す 一連の会議、交渉／完成する his big 直面する 速く. "Seven 重要なs," he mused. "Seven locks. Two you've got, five somebody else has got. Get the five—or, better still, blow in the door with dynamite."

刑事 took out his long cigarette 支えるもの／所有者 and puffed a cloud of smoke to the 天井.

"There seems hardly any excuse for that. I fiddled with one of the keyholes a little, and I can tell you it's a lock that the best man in the world won't be able to 選ぶ. Pheeney failed."

Sneed jerked up his 長，率いる. "Pheeney! Good Lord! I'd forgotten him! Let me have a look at the 重要な."

刑事 took it from his pocket and gave it to the stout man, who turned it over and over on the palm of his 手渡す.

"I don't know one like that," he 自白するd. "Italian, you say? 井戸／弁護士席, かもしれない. You didn't see the barebacked lad?"

"I caught a glimpse of him. He's as quick and as slippery as an eel —poor devil!"

視察官 Sneed looked up はっきりと.

"You're in my way of thinking, eh? That this is one of Stalletti's 実験s?"

He was very thoughtful and did not speak for a long time.

"The gas must have been there all the time. And, of course, they knew you were coming. And then, I have an idea, the presence of Havelock took them by surprise. It's only an idea, and I don't know why I think so."

He rose with difficulty.

"井戸／弁護士席," he said, "we'll see tonight. Have your car but don t bring your gun, because you're not supposed to be 現在の, and I'd hate for there to be any 非公式の 狙撃."

CHAPTER XVI

AT HALF PAST nine that night 刑事 ツバメ's car pulled up by the 味方する of the road half a mile short of Gallows Cottage, and, dimming his lights, he sat 負かす／撃墜する to wait for the arrival of the police car. He heard the whir of it long before its 有望な headlamps （機の）カム into sight, and, starting up his engine, he waited for it to 飛行機で行く past before he followed. The car ahead slowed and turned 突然の into the 運動, 刑事's machine すぐに behind. By the light of his headlamps he saw that the 穴を開ける under the hedge had been filled up.

The first car nearly 衝突する／食い違うd with the thickset hedge where the little road turned に向かって the house, and the driver had a 狭くする squeak of slipping into the 深い 溝へはまらせる／不時着する that ran すぐに under.

Gallows Cottage was in 不明瞭, as it had been when 刑事 had come before. By the time he （機の）カム up to Sneed, the 視察官 was knocking at the door, and three of the half-dozen men the car had 含む／封じ込めるd were making their way to the 後部 of the 前提s.

The answer to the knock （機の）カム quickly. A light showed in the transom above the door and it was jerked open. It was Stalletti, as sallow and grimed as ever. He stood there, a quaint and 悪意のある 人物／姿／数字, his stained 手渡すs 一打／打撃ing his long, 黒人／ボイコット 耐えるd, whilst Sneed explained in a few words the 反対する of this call.

"Oh yes, I now know you," said the man, 明らかに unperturbed by this array of 軍隊. "You are Sneed. And your friend behind you is the gentleman who lost his 石油 the other night. How careless! Enter, my friends, to this home of science!"

He stood aside with an extravagant gesture of welcome, and the five men （人が）群がるd into the hall.

"My 製図／抽選-room you would wish to see, I am sure?" said Stalletti, flinging open the door of the room in which he had received 刑事.

"I'll see that workroom of yours," said Sneed, and, as the man was 主要な them 支援する to the 支援する of the house: "No, not the place at the 支援する—the one upstairs."

Stalletti shrugged his shoulders, hesitated for a second, and with another shrug led the way up the uncarpeted stairs, at the 長，率いる of which was a small room, the door of which he threw open as he was passing. A smaller flight led to a 幅の広い 上陸, on which were three doors. 刑事 and Sneed entered the room on the left. It was a 貧しく furnished room; an old truckle bed in the corner, a 乱打するd and grimy washstand, one 脚 of which had been broken and 修理d, and a 深い old arm-議長，司会を務める was all the furniture it 含む／封じ込めるd.

The next room was evidently Stalletti's office and bedroom. It was overcrowded with furniture, and was in a 明言する／公表する of disorder that beggared description. In one corner 近づく the window was a tall nest of steel drawers. Stalletti pulled one open with an extravagant smile.

"You would like to see in the drawers?" he asked sardonically

Sneed did not reply. He looked under the bed, opened a bureau, ordered the tenant of the house to 打ち明ける a cupboard, and directed his attention to the third room, which was also a bedroom, this with two beds, if a heap of old rugs in each corner could be so called.

"Ah, you are disappointed, my Sneed," said Stalletti, as they went 負かす／撃墜する the stairs. "You 推定する／予想するd to find some of your little babies here? かもしれない you said to yourself, 'Ah, that Stalletti has been up to his old tricks, and is again trying to create big, strong, human men from the puny little things that will grow up to smoke cigarettes and 熟考する／考慮する algebra. Ach!"

"You're pretty talkative tonight, Stalletti."

"Should I not be?" asked the bearded man gaily. "It is so seldom I have a party. Realize, my friend, that I do not いつかs speak for weeks, or yet hear the sound of a human 発言する／表明する. I live frugally; there is no need for a cook, for I have raw food, which is natural in the carnivora. I hear your モーター-cars spinning by, filled with flat-chested little men smoking cigarettes and evil-thinking women, planning treacheries, and I am still gladder that I am a silent carnivora. Now, my 研究室／実験室."

He opened the door at the 支援する of the house and showed a long room, which had evidently been built upon the cottage. There were only two windows to the place, and they were in the roof. There was a very large （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, littered with papers and 調書をとる／予約するs in every modern language; two long 棚上げにするs running 負かす／撃墜する one 味方する of the room, 含む／封じ込めるing jars and 瓶／封じ込めるs no two of which were alike (刑事 saw a soda-water 瓶／封じ込める half filled with a red fluid and corked with cottonwool); a （法廷の）裁判 covered with 記録，記録的な／記録するing 器具s, 規模s, microscopes of 変化させるing sizes; an old, patched-up operating-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and a chest of shallow drawers 含む／封じ込めるing surgical 器具s; 実験（する）-tubes by the hundred; and, in a （疑いを）晴らすd space on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, a dead ネズミ, pinned out flat by its feet.

"Behold the recreation of a poor scientist!" said Stalletti. "No, no, my friend," as Sneed bent over the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, "our ネズミ is dead. I do not vivisect any more because of your foolish 法律s. What 楽しみ is here you cannot conceive! Could you find happiness in a week's 熟考する／考慮する of 化学製品 reactions?"

"Who else is in the house, Stalletti?" asked Sneed.

Professor Stalletti smiled. "I live alone; you have seen for yourself. Nobody comes here."

"Mr ツバメ heard a 叫び声をあげる the night he （機の）カム."

"Imagination," said Stalletti coolly.

"He was also attacked in the 運動 by a half-naked man. Was that imagination?"

"A typical 事例／患者," said the doctor, 会合 his 注目する，もくろむs without flinching.

"Somebody else sleeps upstairs; you've beds for four people."

A 幅の広い smile wrinkled the yellow 直面する.

"I never lose hope of friends coming to me, but, 式のs! they do not arrive. I am alone. Stay here for a week—a month—and see for yourself. Leave one of your so-clever officers to watch me. It should not be difficult to 証明する my loneliness."

"All 権利," said Sneed, after a pause, and, turning, walked out of the house.

The professor stood on the doorstep and watched the car till it disappeared, then, locking and bolting the 激しい door, he went leisurely up the stairs to his room. 開始 a drawer of his desk, he took out a long dog-whip and whistled the 攻撃する in the 空気／公表する. Then he crossed to the steel nest of drawers and 押し進めるd home the one that had come out—the only one, in fact, that would come out. 圧力（をかける）ing one of the knobs of the 誤った drawers, the whole of the 前線 swung open like a door.

"Come to your bed. It is late," said Stalletti.

He spoke in Greek. The thing that was crouching in the 不明瞭 （機の）カム shuffling 前へ／外へ, blinking at the light. It was more than a 長，率いる taller than the bearded man, and, save for the ragged pair of breeches it wore about its waist, it was unclothed.

"Go to your room. I will bring milk and food for you."

Stalletti, standing at a distance from his 創造, 割れ目d his whip, and the big man with the blank 直面する went trotting through the door across the 上陸 into the room with one bed. Stalletti pulled the door tight and locked it; then he went 負かす／撃墜する the stairs, through the 研究室／実験室, and out by a small door to the grounds at the 支援する of the house. He still carried his whip and swung the 攻撃する as he walked, humming a little tune. He passed through a fringe of モミ-trees and, stopping under a spreading oak, whistled. Something dropped from the bough above almost at his feet, and sat crouching, its knuckles on the ground.

"Room—milk—sleep," he said to the 人物／姿／数字, and 割れ目d his whip when the listening 形態／調整 moved too slowly. At the snap of it the strange thing that had dropped from the tree broke into a jog-trot, disappearing through the 研究室／実験室 door, and Stalletti followed at his leisure.

He went upstairs a little later, carrying two 抱擁する bowls of milk and two plates of meat on a tray. When he had fed his creatures and locked them in their dens, he went 支援する to his workroom, 解任するing slaves and 探偵，刑事s from his mind, utterly 吸収するd in his 現在の 熟考する／考慮するs.

CHAPTER XVII

MR HAVELOCK was reading a letter for the third time that morning. Twice he had 協議するd his managing clerk, and he was reading it for the third time when 刑事 ツバメ was shown in.

"I hope I didn't get you out of bed too 早期に, Mr ツバメ, and I have to わびる for bringing you into this 事柄 which ended, so far as you were 関心d, when you returned. I had this letter this morning; I'd like you to read it."

The letter was in 令状ing which was, by now, familiar to 刑事. It bore the 演説（する）／住所 of a Cairo hotel.

DEAR HAVELOCK (it began),

I had your cable about Dr Cody, and I am 令状ing at once to tell you that I certainly know this man and I have had correspondence with him, so why he should 否定する all 知識 with me, I can't understand, unless it is the natural reticence of a man who may not want other people to know his 商売／仕事. Cody wrote to me a long time ago, asking me for a 貸付金. It was for a very かなりの sum—&続けざまに猛撃する;18,000—and I had no inclination to 前進する this 量 to a total stranger. He told me he had got into a very bad 明言する／公表する, and that he wished to （疑いを）晴らす out of England, to get away from a man who had 脅すd to kill him. I forget the whole story now, but it struck me at the time that the man was sincere. I wish you would send me &続けざまに猛撃する;25,000 in French 公式文書，認めるs. 登録（する） the 小包 as usual, and 演説（する）／住所 me at the Hotel de Paris, Damascus. I hope to go on to Bagdad, and thence into Southern Russia, where I believe there is a big 所有物／資産／財産 to be bought for a song.

The letter was 調印するd 'Pierce'.

"Do you usually send him money when he asks for it?

"Invariably," said the other, in a トン of surprise.

"And you are sending him this large sum?"

Mr Havelock bit his lip.

"I don't know. I'm rather troubled about the 事柄. My managing clerk, in whose judgment I have 完全にする 約束, advises me to cable his lordship asking him to 任命する another スパイ／執行官. The 責任／義務 is too big, and after yesterday's horrible experience, I am almost inclined to wash my 手渡すs of the 事柄. It would, of course, mean a 激しい loss to us, because the 管理／経営 of the Selford 広い地所s brings us in nearly five thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs a year."

刑事 was staggered at the 人物／姿／数字.

"It must be an enormously 豊富な 広い地所," he said.

"It is," agreed Havelock. "And, unfortunately for me, it is 増加するing in value every day. It will soon become unwieldy."

"Did Lord Selford leave anything in the nature of a treasure?" asked 刑事, as he remembered a question he had ーするつもりであるd asking.

Havelock shook his 長，率いる.

"No, beyond the cash at the bank, which was a large sum—fifty thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs or so—there were no fluid 資産s. But he left a number of 未開発の coal lands in Yorkshire and Northumberland, which have since 証明するd very 価値のある; in 新規加入 to which he had several large 所有物／資産／財産s in Australia and South Africa, which have also 高めるd in value to an enormous extent. You are thinking about the door with the seven locks?" he smiled. "Believe me, there is nothing there so far as I know, and I have seen every 文書, 私的な and general, which the late Lord Selford left. That little 独房 is as much a mystery to me as it is to you. It could be （疑いを）晴らすd up in twenty-four hours if I had his lordship's 許可 to 軍隊 the door. But I have never asked for it, because I have never seen the necessity for it." Then he smiled. "I have been 審理，公聴会 stories about you, Mr ツバメ. They tell me that you can 選ぶ a lock as skilfully as any cracksman."

"Most locks," said 刑事 敏速に, "but 非，不，無 of the seven. I realize my 制限s. Now, I could open that 安全な"—he pointed to a little 黒人／ボイコット 安全な standing in the corner of the room—"as easily as I could open your office door. I won't say I could do it with a hairpin, but I have half a dozen 器具s at home that would make that receptacle about as 価値のある a 蓄える／店 as a cardboard box. But I've got a 肉親，親類d of instinct that tells me when I'm beaten, and I know I'm beaten on those seven locks. Has Lord Selford any relations?" he asked 突然の. Havelock nodded.

"One," he said. "行方不明になる Sybil Lansdown, and, of course, her mother, though in 法律 行方不明になる Lansdown would be regarded as the 相続人 to the 所有物／資産／財産, supposing Lord Selford died without 問題／発行する."

He took up the letter from the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and his 注目する，もくろむs ran over the written page. "I'm almost inclined to send you to Damascus with the money," he began, but 刑事 shook his 長，率いる.

"No, sir." He was emphatic. "I've had one chase after this young man, and that is enough to last me for a lifetime. During the years he's been abroad has he had much money from you?"

"The greater part of five hundred thousand," replied Havelock 静かに. "一般に for the 購入（する） of 広い地所s, the 行為s of which have never come to me. I have complained about this once or twice, but he has 保証するd me that the 肩書を与える 行為s were in good keeping."

"One question I want to ask you before I go," said 刑事, after turning the 事柄 over in his mind. "Is it possible that these letters are 偽造s?"

"絶対 impossible," replied Havelock. "I know his handwriting and its peculiarities 同様に as—indeed, better than—I know my own. I can 保証する you that not two years ago he wrote one of the letters I have in my とじ込み／提出する under my own 注目する，もくろむs."

"He could not be impersonated?"

"絶対 not. He is rather a thin-直面するd, sandy-haired man, who speaks with a little lisp. And the better to identify him, he has a 一連の会議、交渉／完成する red patch—a birthmark—on his cheek, just below his ear. I have thought of all these 可能性s. He might be impersonated, he might be held to 身代金, or have fallen into the 手渡すs of some unscrupulous ギャング（団） which was bleeding him. In fact, if I had not seen him at intervals during the past years, I should have become 本気で alarmed. But there it is! If he chooses to wander about the world, I have no 力／強力にする to stop him, and his hobby is not so reprehensible that I can invoke the 援助（する） of the 法律 to pin him 負かす／撃墜する in England and keep him here. You are sure you would not like to take the trip to Damascus?"

"Perfectly sure," answered 刑事 すぐに. "I can think of nothing I want to do いっそう少なく!"

Two 乱すing factors had come into the life of Sybil Lansdown, and she 設立する it difficult to concentrate her mind even upon rare 版s or those inanimate 容積／容量s which once had seemed so 利益／興味ing.

In one 事例／患者 the library helped to 大きくする her knowledge. She collected all the literature 利用できる upon the history of the old 郡 families, but there was little about Selford, except in one 容積／容量, written by a priest, which told, in too lurid 詳細（に述べる）, the story of Sir Hugh's many sins. Sybil の近くにd the 調書をとる／予約する あわてて when it became a little too 詳細（に述べる）d.

"I'm afraid we are not a nice family," she said, as she put the 容積／容量 支援する on its high shelf.

There was nothing in the library that could help her unravel her feelings about Mr ツバメ. いつかs she thought she liked him very much indeed; at other times she was 平等に 確かな that he annoyed her. She wished she had not gone to the Selford tombs, and that there had been no 原因（となる） for her laying her 長，率いる on his breast, or ぱたぱたするing to his 武器 in a panic induced by 恐ろしい carvings and a fortuitous nicker of 雷.

Women were very rare 訪問者s to the library, and when, in the slackest part of the afternoon, a lady walked into her room she was a little astounded. A short, stout woman, with a 直面する which did not err on the 味方する of softness, she was expensively dressed, though her 発言する／表明する belied her elegant 外見, for it was a little coarse and somewhat strident.

"Are you 行方不明になる Lansdown?" she asked.

Sybil rose from her 議長，司会を務める.

"Yes, I am 行方不明になる Lansdown. Do you want a 調書をとる／予約する?" she asked, thinking, as was いつかs the 事例／患者, that the woman had called on に代わって of one of the 加入者s.

"No, I don't read 調書をとる／予約するs," was the disconcerting reply. "A lot of rubbish and nonsense, that put ideas in people's 長，率いるs—that's what 調書をとる／予約するs are! If he didn't read so much, he'd be a cleverer man. Not that he isn't a gentleman born and bred," she 追加するd あわてて, "and a nicer gentleman to 取引，協定 with I've never known. You can take it from me, 行方不明になる, that that man couldn't think wrong. He may have made a mistake—we're all liable to make mistakes. But he's not the sort of man who'd put his 'and to anything that wasn't fair and square."

Sybil listened in astonishment to this mysterious paean of 賞賛する, directed she knew not whither.

"Perhaps you—er—"

"My husband," said the lady with dignity. "I am Mrs Bertram Cody." Sybil's mind flew over the 索引 of members without 解任するing anybody who bore that 指名する. "Dr Cody's wife," said the woman. "Have you got a 議長，司会を務める where I can sit 負かす／撃墜する?" With an 陳謝 Sybil drew a 議長，司会を務める 今後 and placed it for the 訪問者. "My husband knew your father very 井戸／弁護士席, 行方不明になる. In fact, they were good friends years and years ago. And he said to me this morning—my husband, I mean:—If you're going to town, Elizabeth, you might pop in at Bellingham's Library, and he gave me the 演説（する）／住所; I've got it written 負かす／撃墜する on a bit of paper."

She searched a very expensive 捕らえる、獲得する and produced a small card. "Yes, there it is, in his own handwriting." She showed the girl a scrawl which told her nothing. "My husband said: 'Go in and see 行方不明になる Lansdown and ask her if she'll come 負かす／撃墜する to tea, and I can tell her something very 利益／興味ing about her father that she never knew before."

Sybil was puzzled but 利益／興味d. Who this strange woman was, and what position her husband 占領するd in society, she could only guess from the prefix the proud wife had put to her husband's 指名する. As though she read the girl's thought, Mrs Cody went on: "He's not a 医療の doctor. A lot of people think he is, but he's not. He's a literary doctor."

"Oh, a doctor of literature?"

"And 法律." The lady nodded impressively. "He got it out of a college in America. The point is, 行方不明になる, you have got lots of enemies." Mrs Cody lowered her 発言する／表明する until it was a 厳しい whisper. "My husband said: 'See the young lady and ask her not to breathe a word of what I've said, because it may cost me dear—it may cost me dear.'" She repeated the words slowly and imposingly. "'Take the Rolls-Royce,' he said, 'and maybe you can 説得する her to come 負かす／撃墜する and have a cup of tea. It wouldn't take her an hour, and nobody would know she'd been.'"

"But why shouldn't people know I've been?" asked the girl, 内密に amused, and yet with a feeling at the 支援する of her mind that there was something more serious in this communication than she could for the moment see.

"Because," said Mrs Cody, "of these enemies. They're not only after you, 行方不明になる"—her 発言する／表明する was very solemn, and, in spite of her amusement, Sybil was impressed—"but they're after that Canadian man, the policeman."

"You mean Mr ツバメ?" asked the girl quickly.

Again Mrs Cody nodded her 長，率いる.

"That's the fellow—the 探偵，刑事. They tried to get him once, but perhaps he hasn't told you about it. The next time he'll be popped off, as sure as my 指名する's Elizabeth."

There was a telephone on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and Sybil looked at it for a moment in 疑問.

"What had my father to do with all this?" she asked.

Mrs Cody pursed her lips, as though she could tell if she would. "My husband will tell you that, 行方不明になる," she said.

Sybil 診察するd the woman more 批判的に. She was undoubtedly the most commonplace individual she had met for a long time; but her wealth was advertised by an 豊富 of jewellery. For with every movement of her 長，率いる two big diamond earrings winked and sparkled in the afternoon sunlight. Her fingers were scarcely 明白な under the （犯罪の）一味s that covered them, for she wore no gloves, and across her ample bosom was a 抱擁する diamond.

"How far is it?" asked Sybil.

"いっそう少なく than a hour. It's in Sussex." She explained the 大勝する and the exact 状況／情勢 of the house. "If you could get away in time for a cup of tea —"

"I could do that," said the girl thoughtfully, "for this is my 早期に afternoon."

Mrs Cody 協議するd a jewelled watch.

"I'll wait for you," she 示唆するd. "You'll find my Rolls-Royce" —she rolled the words sonorously—"waiting in the square. You can't mistake it. It's 黒人／ボイコット, 選ぶd out with little red lines."

"But please don't wait. I shall be half an hour yet."

"I don't mind waiting. But I think I had better stay in the car till you come. You're going to have a big surprise, young lady, and you'll thank me until your dying day that my husband sent me to see you."

Sybil called up her flat, but her mother was out, and she remembered that Mrs Lansdown had gone to a 橋（渡しをする） party—her one recreation. She called 刑事 ツバメ, with no better result; and at four o'clock she went out into the square and looked for the リムジン. She had not far to look; a handsome car was drawn up 近づく the kerb, and at her 外見 moved slowly に向かって her. The chauffeur, a 一連の会議、交渉／完成する-直面するd, young-looking man of thirty (she guessed) was dressed in sober livery. Mrs Cody opened the door for her, and she got into an 内部の that was so ひどく perfumed that she mechanically turned the lever that lowered the windows.

"I hope you telephoned to your mother, my dear?" said Mrs Cody, with a sidelong ちらりと見ること at the girl.

"I did, but she was not at home."

"Then you left a message with the servant?"

Sybil laughed. "We do not support such a 高級な, Mrs Cody," she said. "Mother and I do the work of the house ourselves."

Mrs Cody sighed. "You told somebody else where you were going, I hope, my dear? You should always do that when you're going out, in 事例／患者 of 事故s."

"No, I told nobody. I tried to get a friend on the phone, but he was out too."

For a second the ghost of a smile 夜明けd on the hard 直面する and 消えるd again.

"You can't be too careful," said the lady sententiously. "Do you mind sitting 支援する. 行方不明になる What's-your-指名する, in the corner. It's more comfortable."

It was also more unobservable, but this Sybil did not notice.

CHAPTER XVIII

SOON THEY were スピード違反 in a south-westerly direction, and although Mrs Cody was not an entertaining hostess, the girl 設立する plenty to think about, and certainly did not resent the silence of this over-dressed woman. In いっそう少なく than an hour the car swung through a pair of 激しい アイロンをかける gates, up a long avenue, and stopped before a medium-sized house.

Sybil had never met the stout and smiling man who （機の）カム to 会合，会う her.

"Ah! So this is the daughter of my old friend!" he said, almost jovially. "Little Sybil! You don't remember me, of course?"

Sybil smiled.

"I'm afraid I don't, Dr Cody," she said.

"You wouldn't, my dear, you wouldn't." His manner was paternal, but Mrs Cody, who knew her husband much better than most people, and who could （悪事，秘密などを）発見する his most subtle nuances of トン, 発射 one 冷淡な, baleful glare in his direction that was eloquent of her experience.

If Cody saw her, his manner certainly did not change. He took the girl's arm, much against her will, and led her into the handsome library, fussing over her like an old 女／おっせかい屋 with a chick. She must have the best 議長，司会を務める and a cushion for her 支援する.

"Tea at once, my dear. You must be tired after your 旅行."

"I am," said Mrs Cody emphatically. "I'd like a word with you, C."

"Certainly, my dear. Are you やめる comfortable, 行方不明になる Lansdown?"

"やめる," said the girl, finding it difficult not to smile as she saw Mrs Cody flounce out with a red 直面する and 激突する the door behind her.

In the hall the chauffeur was lighting a cigarette. He ちらりと見ることd 一連の会議、交渉／完成する at the woman as she （機の）カム out.

"Who's she, aunty?" he asked.

Mrs Cody shrugged her ample shoulders.

"She's the girl the old man was telling you about," she said すぐに. "You ask too many questions; he's been complainin' about you."

"I thought she was." He ignored the （民事の）告訴. "Not a bad-looker. I'm surprised at you leaving them two alone!"

"Never mind what you're surprised at," she said tartly. "Go and put that car in the garridge, and come and see me when it's done."

"There's plenty of time," answered the dutiful 甥 coolly. "What's the old man going to do?"

"How do I know?" she snapped.

But he was in no way abashed.

"Has she got the 重要な?"

"Of course she hasn't got the 重要な, you fool!" she 嵐／襲撃するd. "And don't stand there asking me silly questions. And don't poke your nose into my 商売／仕事. And what do you know about 重要なs?"

Her 甥 looked at her meditatively.

"You're a queer couple, you and him," he said. "But it's no 商売／仕事 of 地雷. That girl's certainly a good-looker. I'm going through to the kitchen to have some tea. The old man's given cook and Mrs Hartley a holiday, and the maid's away sick. It's rum that they should all be away together!"

He was strolling to the 前線 door. Then he spoke, and now he turned 支援する.

"Got everybody out of the house." He frowned. "What's the 広大な／多数の／重要な idea, aunt?"

"Not so much 'aunt'. I'm 'missus' to you, you gaol-bird! I've told you about that before." She was trembling with fury, and he knew her 井戸／弁護士席 enough to realize that this was not a moment to 刺激する her to その上の 怒り／怒る. For seven years (with a pleasant interregnum) he had 保存するd the polite fiction of 存在 a pampered menial in the house of Mrs Cody. His 給料 were good; he knew a little of the 私的な 事件／事情／状勢s of the 未亡人 whom Dr Cody had most 突然に married, and for the consideration he received in the 形態／調整 of a good bed, an excellent allowance, 加える the 援助 he had in the garage, he was やめる willing to be blind to many curious happenings that he had 証言，証人／目撃するd in that house.

He walked に向かって his aunt, his cigarette drooping from his big mouth.

"What time am I taking that girl 支援する to town?" he asked.

"She's staying here; you needn't bother."

He looked 負かす／撃墜する at the 床に打ち倒す, up at the 天井, everywhere except at the woman, and then: "Does she know she's staying here?"

"Mind your own 商売／仕事."

"This is my 商売／仕事 for once," he said obstinately. "I don't know who she is or what she is; if there's any monkey game going on, I'm not in it. I'll have the car ready to take her 支援する in an hour."

The woman did not answer him. She walked 速く across the hall and passed up the stairs out of sight. He waited till she had disappeared from 見解（をとる） on the 上陸, and then he went out to the kitchen to his own tea and to meditate upon the strangeness of life at Weald House and the queer 運命／宿命 which, twelve years before, had turned his aunt from a 世帯 drudge to a lady of fortune.

It was Mrs Cody who 結局 brought in the tea, placed it on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and すぐに retired. Sybil saw nothing strange in this, thinking that her host had something to say which he did not wish to tell her before his wife. Three times she had made an ineffectual 試みる／企てる to bring the conversation 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to her father and the secret which Mr Cody had to 明らかにする／漏らす, but on each occasion he skilfully led the talk in another direction. But now, after a pretence of taking refreshment, the girl brought the 事柄 to a 長，率いる by bluntly asking what he had to tell.

"井戸／弁護士席, young lady," Mr Cody coughed, "it's a very long story, and I 疑問 if I can tell you everything in the time we have. Would it not be an excellent idea if I got on to the telephone to your dear mother and asked her to come 負かす／撃墜する and spend an evening with us?" The girl looked at him in astonishment. "I'm afraid that 計画（する） would not work. Mother and I are going to a theatre tonight," she said.

Sybil was ordinarily a very truthful person, but even very truthful people may be permitted to invent excuses for 避けるing disagreeable experiences.

"May I not telephone and ask her?" Knowing that her mother would not be 支援する at the flat for another hour, she agreed. He went out of the room and was gone five minutes. When he returned, a 幅の広い smile suffused his 直面する and he was rubbing his 手渡すs.

"Excellent, excellent!" he said. "Your dear mother has 約束d to come 負かす／撃墜する this evening. I am sending the car for her. She says she can 交流 the theatre tickets for another night."

Sybil listened, petrified with amazement, and into her annoyed amusement there crept a 冷淡な thread of 恐れる. The man was lying. The theatre 約束／交戦 had been invented on the 刺激（する） of the moment, and her mother was not at the flat, she 井戸／弁護士席 knew. Danger! As if a red light had flashed before her 注目する，もくろむs she saw it. There was some terrible 危険，危なくする 脅すing her, and she must temporize.

"I'm so glad," she said, with a calmness she did not feel. And then, in an 平易な conversational 発言する／表明する: "You have a very pretty house here, Mr Cody."

"Yes, it is a gem," he said complacently. "Would you like to see over it? It has a remarkable history. 初めは a dower house, in the gift of a 親族 of yours—Lord Selford. I 賃貸し（する）d it many years ago—"

"You know Mr Havelock, don't you?" she said in surprise.

"Hum!" He fingered his chin. "No, I cannot say that I know Mr Havelock very 井戸／弁護士席. I have done 商売／仕事 with him; in fact, I once bought an Australian 所有物／資産／財産 from him. But in the 現在の 事例／患者 the house was 賃貸し（する）d to me through a third person, and I very much 疑問 whether Mr Havelock is aware that I am the leaseholder. Do you know him 井戸／弁護士席?"

"わずかに," she said. All the time her busy brain was working. What should she do? She 手配中の，お尋ね者 an excuse for seeing the grounds. A main road passed 近づく the 入り口 宿泊する, and she knew there was a village の近くに at 手渡す. Once she was on the road, there would be 十分な excuses to take her into the village and the 保護 which such a community would 申し込む／申し出 her.

"You would like to see some of our rooms?"

"No, I don't think so. I would like to see your grounds; I thought I saw a bed of narcissi 近づく the 宿泊する," she said, and rose from her 議長，司会を務める, her 膝s trembling.

"Hum!" said Mr Cody again. "Yes, it is a beautiful 位置／汚点／見つけ出す, but the ground is rather damp for you."

"I would like to go out," she 主張するd.

"Very good. If you will wait till I have had my second cup of tea." He busied himself with the tray and the teapot. "By the way, you 港／避難所't finished yours, and it is 冷淡な. Shall I 注ぐ you out another?"

"No, no, that will be 十分な, thank you."

What a fool she had been! To …を伴って a strange woman—a woman against whom every instinct 警告するd her—to an unknown house. Nobody knew whither she had gone.

She took the cup from him, steeling her 神経s to 安定した her 手渡す, drank a little, and was 感謝する for the liquid, for her mouth had become 乾燥した，日照りの and her throat parched with the consciousness of her position. It was not nice tea, she noticed, there was a salty, metallic taste to it, and with a little grimace she put 負かす／撃墜する the cup.

"Thank you, that is enough," she said.

Perhaps it was the 激烈な／緊急の 緊張 of the moment which left that queer after-taste in her mouth. She had noticed once before in her life how 極度の慎重さを要する the palate becomes in a 危機 of 恐れる.

In one corner of the library was a small coat rack, and Mr Cody went leisurely to get his cap. When he looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, Sybil was 持つ／拘留するing on to the 辛勝する／優位 of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, her 直面する white as death, her 注目する，もくろむs glazed. She tried to speak, but could not form the words. And then, as he （機の）カム to her, she 崩壊（する）d in his 武器.

He half carried, half dragged her to the sofa, and putting a cushion beneath her 長，率いる, walked out of the library, locking the door behind him.

CHAPTER XIX

The 一連の会議、交渉／完成する-直面するd chauffeur was standing in the open doorway, smoking.

"Where is Mrs Cody?" asked Cody はっきりと, his 直面する going dark at the sight of the man's insolent 無関心／冷淡.

"Upstairs."

"Go and tell her I want her."

"Go and tell her yourself," said the man, without troubling to turn his 長，率いる.

Cody's 直面する went purple. It was evident that this was not by any means the first of their 遭遇（する）s. He mastered his 激怒（する） with an 成果／努力, and, in a milder トン:

"Go 負かす／撃墜する to the village for me, will you, Tom? I want some postage stamps."

"I'll be going 負かす／撃墜する later," said Tom, unmoved by his olive-支店. "Where is that girl?"

"Girl? Which girl?" asked the other, in a トン of innocent surprise.

"The girl you had in to tea. Don't tell me she has just gone out, because I've been standing here for ten minutes, and I heard you talking when I was in the hall."

Mr Cody drew a long breath.

"She's 残り／休憩（する）ing. The young lady is not very 井戸／弁護士席. I've given her 治療 —"

"Oh, shut up!" said the other contemptuously. "You ain't a 薬／医学 doctor, you're a doctor of 法律s—and Gawd knows some of 'em want doctorin' from what I've seen of 'em! When's she going home? I've got the machine ready."

"She may not go home tonight, Tom." Mr Cody was mildness itself now. "It was arranged that she should stay tonight."

Tom scratched his cheek irritably.

"She didn't know anything about it," he said. "When she got out she asked me if there wasn't another way 支援する to town, because she 手配中の，お尋ね者 to call in to see a friend."

This latter was sheer mendacity on the part of Tom Cawler, and it was a slight coincidence that Mr Cody had been twice deceived in half an hour.

"She's not 井戸／弁護士席, I tell you," he said はっきりと. "And whilst we're on the 支配する, your place is in the kitchen. I've stood about as much of you as I'm likely to stand, Cawler. You don't think because I married your aunt that you own this place, do you? Because, if that's your idea, you're going to get a shock. I've 耐えるd やめる enough insolence from you, and you can go."

Tom nodded.

"I know I can go," he said. "Because why? Because nobody could stop me if I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to go. I could go this very minute if I liked—I don't like! This is a good 職業 and I'm not going to lose it. I don't know what your dirty 商売／仕事 is—"

Mr Cody 爆発するd in 怒り／怒る.

"You—you scoundrel!" he spluttered. "You dare 告発する／非難する your aunt of 存在—"

"I've got a 広大な／多数の／重要な 尊敬（する）・点 for my aunt." Tom Cawler was still 星／主役にするing at the ground. "I 借りがある a lot to my aunt. I got all my crook 血 from her 味方する of the family, and you couldn't lay out any 計画／陰謀 for getting money quick that I wouldn't think she had a 手渡す in." He glowered at the man for a second and then his 注目する，もくろむs dropped.

"Yes, she's been a good aunt to me, Cody! Ever heard tell of my twin brother Johnny? I've been dreaming about him lately. I see him as plain as if he was standing before my very 注目する，もくろむs. And I was only seven when he went away—"

"When he died," 示唆するd Cody with 予期しない mildness.

"Yuh—when he died. We used to sit under a tree in Selford—I was brought up on this 広い地所—and sing 'Poor Jenny is a-weepin'.' Seven years." His 注目する，もくろむs, raised suddenly, were like 燃やすing 解雇する／砲火／射撃s, and the little man wilted under the gaze.

"Good 肉親，親類d aunt! I've seen her lick that little boy till he couldn't stand. She's lucky to be a woman. You tell her that one day. If she'd 'a' been a man, she'd have got hers long ago. I'm going 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to get that car ready. You have that young lady waiting for me when I come 支援する." There was menace in his トン which was unmistakable.

Without another word he lurched off, his 手渡すs in his pockets, a cigarette still drooping limply, and, turning, Mr Cody flew up the stairs and burst into the room where his better half was sitting. He slammed the door behind him, and for ten minutes there was the sound of angry 発言する／表明するs. Presently Mrs Cody （機の）カム out alone, and, going downstairs, 打ち明けるd the library and went in.

Sybil Lansdown was sitting up on the sofa, her 長，率いる between her 手渡すs. Without a word, the woman gripped her arm and supported her out of the room and up the stairs. From this 床に打ち倒す two flights of 狭くする stairs led, in one 事例／患者 to the servants' ４半期/4分の1s, and in the other to a spare bedroom which was used also as a box-room, and it was into this apartment that the girl was 押し進めるd.

Sybil was almost unconscious. She never 解任するd that 旅行 up the stairs. When she woke, with a splitting 頭痛, she was lying on a large oak bed that sagged in the middle. A little wax nightlight was 燃やすing under a glass, for by this time the light was fading from the sky.

She sat up, her 長，率いる reeling, and tried hard to think consecutively. 近づく the bed was a small （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する with a glass of water and two tiny pellets, which she might have ignored, but the aspirin 瓶／封じ込める stood open beside them. Her 長，率いる was splitting. Oblivious to danger, and realizing in a dull way that these were ーするつもりであるd to 中和する／阻止する the 影響 of the 麻薬 she had taken, she swallowed the two pellets and drank every 減少（する） of the water without taking the glass from her lips. With a groan she lay 負かす／撃墜する on the bed, covering her 注目する，もくろむs with her 手渡すs, and was sensible enough to make her mind as much of a blank as her throbbing brain would 許す until the restorative took 影響.

It was half an hour before the 苦痛 中止するd and she 投機・賭けるd to 解除する her 長，率いる again. She was dizzy, and with every movement the room swam 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. But after a while she grew calmer, more her normal self, and she could think consecutively.

There was only a tiny window, and that was a skylight in the sloping roof. It was padlocked and covered with a stout wire netting. She tried the door, without 推定する／予想するing that her 試みる／企てる to leave the room by that way would be of any avail. Going 支援する to the bed, she sat 負かす／撃墜する and tried hard to review her position without 許すing her terror to 打ち勝つ her.

She must have been mad to have gone alone with that woman (to that vain 結論 she 自然に returned), but she was so 確信して of herself, and the counsel of perfection was very hard to follow, even in the most perfect of 存在s. The excuse was so flimsy, she told herself. Not a London child would have been deceived by this 約束 of family 発覚s. She dared not let herself think of her mother.

She tried the door again. It was ひどく locked and probably bolted as 井戸／弁護士席, for it resisted her strength at every point of its surface. It was very old and had the 外見 of 存在 something of a misfit, for there was a gap of an インチ and a half between its 底（に届く） and the 床に打ち倒す.

She walked 支援する to the bed and sat 負かす／撃墜する, trying to order her thoughts. The 重要な! Was her 拘留，拘置 remotely connected with that （土地などの）細長い一片 of steel? She was puzzled, but she would not 許す herself to be utterly bewildered. She argued, as coldly as the circumstances would 許す her, that, for some 推論する／理由 which she could not define, the 重要な had something to do with her 悲劇の 状況／情勢.

She pulled up a 議長，司会を務める and, 開始するing it, reached up to the skylight, but it resisted all her 成果／努力s, and, supposing she could 軍隊 the window, it was utterly impossible that she could 追い出す the three アイロンをかける 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s which covered the window.

As she was standing on the 議長，司会を務める, she heard a footstep in the passage, 会社／堅い and 激しい, and, getting 負かす／撃墜する to the 床に打ち倒す, she turned to 直面する the man who （機の）カム in. It was some little time before the door was opened. As she rightly surmised, it was fastened with bolts, and these had to be 発射 before, with a click, the 重要な turned and Cody （機の）カム in. He was one large, affable smile.

"My dear young lady, I'm afraid you have had a bad time. Do you have these attacks very often?"

"I don't know what attacks you mean. Dr. Cody," she answered 刻々と.

"Very sad, very sad," he murmured, shaking his 長，率いる mournfully. "I was really afraid for your life. Is there insanity in your family?"

The audacity of the question took her breath away. "I don't 示唆する there is," he went on, "only I must say that your 行為／行う is a little strange. You probably remember your 叫び声をあげるing fit. No? Ah, I did not 推定する／予想する you would. It was very lamentable..."

"Mr Cody"—she tried to keep her 発言する／表明する even, but it 要求するd a 広大な／多数の／重要な 成果／努力—"I want to go home to my mother."

He looked hard at her for a long time.

"I suppose you do," he mused. "I suppose you do. But you need have no 恐れる, my dear young lady; your mother has been 通知するd and is already on her way."

There was a little （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する in the corner of the room, and he drew it to the centre and put 負かす／撃墜する upon it the small 黒人／ボイコット 大臣の地位 he was carrying under his arm. From this he took a 倍のd sheet of paper, smoothed it gently, took out his fountain pen, unscrewed the 最高の，を越す and 直す／買収する，八百長をするd it.

"The position," he began, in his old oracular manner, "is a little 不規律な. It is not customary for me to receive young ladies who 落ちる into hysterics, and I 自白する that I was かなり alarmed—my dear wife is prostrate with 苦悩. She said, and very rightly: 'The position is a very ぎこちない one for you, Bertram. Suppose this young lady 示唆するs that you 治めるd to her some noxious 麻薬, and that you are 拘留するing her against her will—although you and I are 井戸／弁護士席 aware that her illness was brought about by—um—natural 原因（となる）s, a censorious world may 井戸／弁護士席 look sceptically upon our explanation.'"

Sybil waited, knowing 十分な 井戸／弁護士席 that, if Mrs Cody had made any 肉親，親類d of speech, it would not have been in those 条件.

"Therefore, it has occurred to me," Mr Cody went on, "that it would be an excellent idea if you of your own 解放する／自由な will, made a 声明 to this 影響, that I, Bertram Cody, Doctor of Literature and 法律, have behaved with the greatest 親切 and propriety, and that I placed you in this locked room only for one 目的—すなわち, to 抑制する you from doing a serious 傷害 to yourself."

She ちらりと見ることd at the paper on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

"I can hardly 自白する that I'm mad," she said, with a half smile.

"I do not 推定する／予想する you to do, that," said Mr Cody あわてて. "That 言及／関連 to your 条件 of mind does not appear in this 文書. It is 単に a—um—証明書 of my probity, very dear to me. A mere whim of 地雷, but I am a whimsical person." He smiled 概して, 選ぶd up the pen, gave it to her.

"Can I read the 文書?" she asked.

"Is it necessary?" He was almost reproachful. "If you will 調印する this, I will see that you are 行為／行うd at once to your mother."

"You told me my mother was on her way," interrupted Sybil suspiciously.

"My idea," the man went on, calmness itself, "was to 会合，会う her halfway. I have telephoned, asking her to stay at the Mitre Inn, Dorking."

He 手渡すd the pen to the girl, and again she hesitated. The 文書 was written on a quarto sheet and was closely typewritten. His large 手渡す covered the paper, leaving her only the space to 令状. She was anxious to be gone, and, in her 恐れる, clutched at any hope of freedom. The point of the pen had touched the paper when she saw a line 明白な through his 延長するd fingers which 逮捕（する）d her movement.

'Should the said Sybil Ellen Lansdown predecease the said Bertram Albert Cody...'

"What is this paper?" she asked.

"調印する it!" His 発言する／表明する was 厳しい, his manner changed as suddenly as a 熱帯の sky.

"I shall not 調印する any 文書 that I 港／避難所't read," she replied, and laid 負かす／撃墜する the pen.

The smile left his 直面する hard and 脅迫的な. "You will 調印する that, or, by God, I'll—" He checked himself with an 成果／努力, and strove again to 回復する the 外見 of geniality.

"My dear young lady," he said, with a queer admixture of irritation and blandness, "why trouble your pretty little 長，率いる about the 言い回し of 合法的な 文書s? I 断言する to you that this letter 単に exculpates me from any—"

"I will not 調印する it," she said.

"You won't, eh?"

He gathered up the 文書 and thrust it into his pocket. She shrank 支援する as he 前進するd に向かって her. Suddenly she darted to the door and tried to pull it open. Before she could 後継する, he had caught her by the waist and flung her 支援する.

"You'll wait here, my young lady, till you change your mind. You will wait without food. If I had my way, without sleep. I've given you a chance for your life, you poor fool, and you 港／避難所't had the sense to しっかり掴む it. Now you can stay here until you 回復する your 推論する／理由!"

In another second he had passed through the door, slamming it after him. She heard the bolts 発射 home with a 沈むing heart.

For a time she was too paralysed by her 発見 to make any fresh 試みる／企てる to escape. But after a while she took 持つ／拘留する of herself and 回復するd a little of her self-所有／入手, though she so trembled that, when she stood upon the 議長，司会を務める to try the skylight again, she could scarcely 持続する her balance.

When she saw that escape by that way was impossible, she made 準備s to keep the door against an 侵入者. She tried to pull the bed from the 塀で囲む, but it was a 激しい oaken 事件／事情／状勢 and beyond her strength. A rickety washstand was the only 支え（る） she could find, and the 支援する of this she wedged beneath the door 扱う and sat 負かす／撃墜する to wait.

Hour followed hour, and there was no sound in the house, and at last, 打ち勝つ by weariness, she lay 負かす／撃墜する on the bed and, in spite of all her 成果／努力s to keep awake, was soon 急速な／放蕩な asleep.

She woke with a wildly （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing heart and sat up. She had heard a sound in the passage outside; a shuffling, stealthy sound, which her 後見人 senses had heard in her deepest slumber. What was it? She listened, and for a long time there was nothing to break the silence. Then, from somewhere below, she heard a dull 衝突，墜落, as though something 激しい had fallen. She listened, her 手渡す on her heart, 努力する／競うing to check her racing pulse.

"Ow-w-w!"

She shuddered and almost fainted with horror. It was a squeal she heard, the squeal of a terror-stricken animal—another, deeper, guttural, horrible!

She listened at the door, her senses 緊張した, and heard a faint, 深い sobbing, then heard no more. Ten minutes passed, a ４半期/4分の1 of an hour, and then there （機の）カム to her ears the noise which had first 誘発するd her—the shuffling of 明らかにする feet upon a hard, smooth surface. She had caught a glimpse of the passage when Dr Cody had opened the door. She knew it was covered with oilcloth, and it was on this that the feet were moving. Nearer and nearer they （機の）カム, and then stopped. Somebody turned the 扱う of the door and drew 支援する the bolts. She was frozen with terror; could not move, could only stand 星／主役にするing blankly at the door, waiting for the apparition which would be 明らかにする／漏らすd to her.

Again the 扱う turned, but the door did not move. Whoever it was had not the 重要な. There was a silence. Somebody was trying to break in the door and she caught a glimpse of a 抱擁する, misshapen toe in the space between the door and the 床に打ち倒す. Then, from under the door, （機の）カム three 抱擁する, squat fingers. They were wet and red with 血. The 手渡す gripped the 底（に届く） of the door and strove to 解除する it. At the sight of that obscene 手渡す the （一定の）期間 was broken, and she 叫び声をあげるd, and, turning, fled in desperate panic to the 議長，司会を務める beneath the skylight. As she looked up she saw a 直面する 星／主役にするing 負かす／撃墜する at her through the window—the white 直面する of Cawler, the chauffeur.

CHAPTER XX

IT WAS more than 事故 that took 刑事 ツバメ to the library that previous afternoon. He had come to feel that a day without a glimpse of this tantalizing girl was a day wasted. And he remembered, with a sense of virtuous pride, that he was a 加入者 and する権利を与えるd to walk into this sedate 設立 and 需要・要求する, if he so 願望（する）d, the most unintelligible 容積／容量s on biophysics.

"行方不明になる Lansdown is gone," said on of the 公式の／役人s. "It is her 早期に day. She went away with a lady."

"With her mother?" he asked.

"No," said the girl, shaking her 長，率いる, "it wasn't Mrs Lansdown. I know her very 井戸／弁護士席. It was a lady who drove up to the door in a Rolls. I've never seen her before."

There was nothing remarkable in this. Although she was beginning to fill a large space of his life, 刑事 scarcely knew the girl, and certainly knew nothing of her friends. He was disappointed, for he had ーするつもりであるd, on the lamest excuse, to take her to tea that afternoon. He waited till nearly seven before he called at Coram Street. Here his excuse for the visit was even lamer, and he accounted this one of his unlucky days when Mrs Lansdown smilingly told him that the girl had telephoned, in her absence, to say that she would not be home to dinner.

"She has a girl friend and often dines with her—probably she will go on to a theatre afterwards. Won't you stay and keep me, company at dinner, Mr ツバメ? Though I'm afraid I'm rather an uninteresting 代用品，人 for Sybil!"

He was glad to 受託する the 招待, hoping that before he left, Sybil would put in an 外見; but, though he 長引かせるd his visit to the 限界s of politeness, she had not returned when he took his leave at eleven o'clock. Until then he had not made any 言及／関連 to the story the librarian had told him.

"Your daughter's friend is a 公正に／かなり rich young lady?" he asked.

Mrs Lansdown was surprised. "No, indeed, she 作品 for her living; she is a cashier in a 麻薬 蓄える／店."

She saw the frown gather on his 直面する, and asked quickly: "Why?"

"Somebody called for Sybil with a car—a Rolls," he said; "somebody that the librarian did not know."

Mrs Lansdown smiled.

"That isn't very remarkable. Jane Allen isn't very rich, but she has a number of very 豊富な 親族s, and probably it was her aunt who called."

He ぐずぐず残るd outside the house for a ４半期/4分の1 of an hour, 消費するing three cigarettes before, a 完全に 不満な man, he walked home. His uneasiness he analysed to his own discredit. He was not considering, he told himself, whether the girl was in any 肉親，親類d of 捨てる, and the real secret of his annoyance was 純粋に personal and selfish.

His flat seemed strangely empty that night. As was his wont, he walked through all the rooms, and paid particular attention to the little kitchen balcony. Behind every door he had put a portable alarm, a tiny triangle to which was 大（公）使館員d a bell, the apex of the triangle 存在 直す／買収する，八百長をするd in the 支持を得ようと努めるd of the door, so that any 試みる／企てる to open it would assuredly 誘発する him. This done, he switched the telephone through to his room, undressed slowly, and went to bed.

Sleep did not come easily, and he took a 調書をとる／予約する and read. The clock was striking one as he dozed off. He was half awake and half asleep when the telephone bell sounded in the passage, and, putting on the light, he sat up and took the 器具 from the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する by the bed.

"Hullo!"

"Trunk call," said a man's 発言する／表明する.

There was a click, a silence, and then: "殺人...I'm 存在 殺人d... Oh, God! They are here...the boys...殺人!"

His spine crept.

"Who is it speaking?" he asked quickly.

There was no answer.

"Who are you? Where are you speaking from?"

Still no answer. Then a 深い groan and a 悪口を言う／悪態, a shriek that ended in a 厚い sob.

"Don't touch me, don't touch me. Help!"

There was a 衝突，墜落, and no その上の sound. 刑事 worked 速く at the hanger of the telephone and presently got the 交流.

"Where was I called from?"

"Somewhere in Sussex," said the 地元の man. "Do you want me to find out?"

"Yes—and quick! I'm Mr ツバメ, of Scotland Yard. Will you call me?"

"I'll （犯罪の）一味 you in a minute," was the reply.

即時に 刑事 was out of bed and dressing with feverish haste. The 発言する／表明する he had not 認めるd, but some instinct told him that this call was no hoax and that he had listened in to the very 行為／法令／行動する of 虐殺（する）. He dare not （犯罪の）一味 Sneed, in 事例／患者 he 干渉するd with the call which was coming through.

He was lacing his shoes when the bell rang.

"It was from South Weald, Sussex—"

刑事 uttered an 誓い. Cody's house! It was Cody speaking; he remembered the 発言する／表明する now.

"Get the nearest police 駅／配置する to South Weald and tell them I asked you to send men straight away to Mr Cody's place. Weald House. There is trouble there. Will you do this for me."

And when the man had replied in the affirmative:

"Now get me Brixton 9007," he said.

Sneed must know, if he could only 誘発する that lethargic man from his sleep. To his surprise, the call （機の）カム through almost すぐに, and Sneed's 発言する／表明する answered him.

"I've been playing 橋（渡しをする） with a few nuts from （警察，軍隊などの）本部," he began. "It was like taking money from children—"

"Listen, Sneed," said 刑事 緊急に, "There's trouble at Cody's place. He's just called me through."

In a few words he gave the gist of the terrible message which had reached him...

"That sounds bad," said Sneed's thoughtful 発言する／表明する. "I've got a car 負かす／撃墜する here —"

"地雷 is faster. I'll 選ぶ you up. Where are you?"

"I'll be under the 鉄道 arch in Brixton Road. I can bring a couple of men with me—視察官 Elbert and Sergeant Staynes. They are here with me."

This was good news. He knew instinctively that in the work ahead of him he would need all the 援助 he could procure.

"I'll be with you in ten minutes."

刑事 grabbed his overcoat and flew to the door. As he flung it open he stepped 支援する in amazement. A white-直面するd woman was standing on the threshold.

"Mrs Lansdown!" he gasped, and his heart sank. "Sybil did not go with Jane Allen," she said in a low 発言する／表明する.

"She hasn't returned?"

Mrs Lansdown shook her 長，率いる.

"Come in," said 刑事, and took her into the dining-room.

Mrs Lansdown's story was all he might have 推定する／予想するd. She had waited until twelve, and then, growing a little uneasy, had walked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to the 搭乗-house where Jane Allen lived. She 設立する the girl in bed. She had not seen Sybil, nor had she made any 手はず／準備 to 会合，会う her.

"Is there anybody else to whom she could have gone?"

"I have been able to （犯罪の）一味 up two friends she might be staying with, but they have not seen her," said Mrs Lansdown.

"I was fortunate enough to get in touch with the girl who 作品 with Sybil at the library, and she 述べるd the woman who （機の）カム for my girl; a very over-dressed woman of middle age, who wore a lot of jewellery and spoke in a very ありふれた 発言する／表明する."

Mrs Cody! She saw him turn pale and gripped him by the arm.

"Is anything very wrong?" she asked huskily.

"I don't know. Will you stay here? I'm going to see."

"Can I come with you?"

"No, no." He shook his 長，率いる. "I'll be gone a little more than an hour, then I'll phone you. Won't you try to read? You will find 調書をとる／予約するs in my room that will 利益／興味 you."

She shook her 長，率いる.

"I must go home in 事例／患者 Sybil returns. But don't wait for me; I have a cab at the door."

There was no time for polite 抗議するs. He dashed out of the house ahead of her, and was in the mews 打ち明けるing the garage door before she had reached the cab.

Within a few minutes of the 約束d time the big car drew up under the 鉄道 arch at Brixton, where Sneed and his two friends were waiting.

"Jump in," said 刑事; "I've got something to tell you. I'm trying to get the hang of it—your 長，率いる will be cooler than 地雷."

As the machine sped southward he told of Sybil's 見えなくなる.

"That was Mrs Cody all 権利," he said. "I met her some time ago. She's certainly a daisy. But what 害（を与える） could she do to a girl?"

刑事 ツバメ was not 用意が出来ている with an answer.

"The Sussex sleuths will be there before we reach the house—" he began, but the other scoffed.

"You don't know our police system, or you wouldn't be so sure. Probably the nearest 駅／配置する to South Weald hasn't a telephone; and even if it had, it's ありそうもない that a police officer would 行為／法令／行動する on telephoned 指示／教授／教育s unless he were sure of the sender. I'm not so 確かな that we aren't on a fool's chase."

"I've thought of that, too," said ツバメ; "but, 重さを計るing it up, there are long 半端物s against that 可能性. No, the man who telephoned me was not 事実上の／代理."

They passed the next ４半期/4分の1 of an hour without speaking.

"We're somewhere 近づく Stalletti's house, aren't we?" said Sneed, waking from a doze.

"On the left," replied the other curtly.

They flashed past the dark 入り口 of the 運動. From the road the house was invisible, and only the high trees standing against the moonlit sky 示すd its 状況／情勢.

"Rum thing about this Lord Selford 商売／仕事," said Sneed meditatively. "There's trouble wherever you touch it. I wonder what he's done?"

"What who's done? Selford?" asked 刑事, rousing himself with a start.

The fat man nodded. "Why is he keeping out of England? Why is he running around like a Christianized Wandering Jew? Wearing out his shoe-leather whilst the ancestral 議長，司会を務める is collecting dust? You've never seen him, have you?"

"No," said 刑事 すぐに. "I've seen a photograph of him, but I've never seen him."

Sneed 転換d 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and peered through the 不明瞭 at his companion.

"Seen a photograph of him?" he said slowly.

"Sure," said 刑事. "He was in Cape Town the day the new 知事-General arrived. He （機の）カム out on to the balcony of the hotel to watch the 行列, and one of the newspaper boys took a picture 発射 of the （人が）群がる. I didn't know this, only the hotel porter had seen it in the paper and pointed him out to me. And then I went along to the newspaper office and got a first-手渡す print and had it 大きくするd."

"What is he like?" asked Sneed curiously.

"I'll tell you one of these days," was the unsatisfactory reply, and soon after they were スピード違反 負かす／撃墜する the 第２位 road and through the tiny village of South Weald.

There was no unusual 動かす, and at Sneed's suggestion they stopped at the little cottage where the village patrol lived and had his tiny lock-up for the infrequent 違反者／犯罪者s who （機の）カム his way. The man's wife opened an upper window when they knocked.

"No, sir—the constable is out tonight. He is up at Chapey 支持を得ようと努めるd looking for poachers with Sir John's gamekeeper."

"Have you a telephone?"

There was one, and she had taken a message which would be given to her husband when he arrived home in the 早期に hours of the morning.

刑事 再開するd the car, and in a few minutes—"Here we are," he said, and pulled up his car with a jerk before the gates of Weald House.

He sounded his horn, but there was no 調印する of light or movement in the little 宿泊する, which, he afterwards learned, was untenanted. Getting 負かす／撃墜する, he tried the gates, and 設立する one was fastened by a slip catch. Throwing it open, he unbolted the second and, fastening both gates 支援する, remounted his machine and went 慎重に up the 運動.

The 本体，大部分／ばら積みの of the house was 明白な for fifty yards before they （機の）カム to it. No light showed, and there was no 証拠 of human activity. He rang the bell and waited, listening. Again he 圧力（をかける）d the electric 押し進める, and 補足（する）d this by banging on the 激しい パネル盤 of the door. Three minutes were lost in this way, and then Sneed sent one of his friends to throw gravel at one of the upper windows.

"There seems to be nobody up. I'll give them another few minutes," said Sneed, "and then we'll 軍隊 a window."

These, he discovered on 査察, were ひどく shuttered, but 側面に位置するing the porch were two 狭くする panes of ground glass.

"You'll never get through there," said Sneed, perhaps conscious of his own 本体，大部分／ばら積みの.

"Won't I?" said 刑事 grimly.

He went 支援する to the car and returned with a screwdriver. Whilst the stout man watched admiringly, he 除去するd the whole pane and drew it out. His one 恐れる was that behind the glass was a shutter or 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業, but 明らかに the narrowness of the window was regarded by Mr Cody as a 十分な 保護.

補助装置d by the two 探偵，刑事s, he slipped sideways and feet 真っ先の through an 開始, which, it seemed, no human 存在 could pass. His 長，率いる was the most difficult part of his anatomy to squeeze through, but presently he was in the hall with no 損失 to himself save a slight laceration to one of his ears.

The hall was in 完全にする 不明瞭. There （機の）カム no sound but the slow, solemn ticking of a ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる on a 上陸 above. Then suddenly he 匂いをかぐd. 刑事 ツバメ had an 異常な sense of smell, and now he scented something which turned him 冷淡な. Flashing his lamp on the door, he took off the chain, pulled 支援する the bolts and 認める his companions.

"There's 殺人 here," he said tersely. "Can you smell 血?"

"血?" said the startled Sneed. "Good God, no! Can you?"

ツバメ nodded. He was searching the 塀で囲むs for the electric light switch, and after a while he 設立する a board with five, and these he turned over. One lamp lit in the hall and one on the 上陸 above, out of sight. Outside switches controlled the lights of this room. He pointed to the door. Suddenly he felt Sneed's 手渡す 支配する his arm. "Look!" muttered the 視察官.

He was glaring upstairs, and, に引き続いて his 注目する，もくろむs, 刑事 saw something which at first he did not understand. And then slowly he realized that he was looking at the 影をつくる／尾行する of a 人物／姿／数字 cast against the 塀で囲む of the 上陸. It was 明白に leaning over the unseen banisters, for the carved uprights and the 幅の広い rail showed 明確に against the papered 塀で囲む. The light he had lit on the 上陸 above was evidently placed low, and behind the motionless 人物／姿／数字, and thus it was that the 影をつくる／尾行する was （疑いを）晴らす and without distortion.

Slipping an (a)自動的な／(n)自動拳銃 from his pocket, he ran up the stairs sideways, looking 支援する over his shoulder, and Sneed saw him 停止（させる） on the 上陸, look for a moment, and then;

"Come up, Sneed."

The 視察官 followed, reached the first 上陸, and turned to look into a white 直面する that was 星／主役にするing 負かす／撃墜する at him with unseeing 注目する，もくろむs—the 直面する of a stout woman who was half leaning, half lying, across the banisters, both her 手渡すs clenched, and on her 直面する a look of unimaginable horror.

CHAPTER XXI

"DEAD," said Sneed, unnecessarily, as they went slowly up the five stairs that brought them to the 最高の，を越す 上陸.

There was no 調印する of 暴力／激しさ, and they now saw what kept the 団体／死体 築く. She had been ひさまづくing on a low settee which ran 紅潮／摘発する with the banisters, and by the 事故 of balance, when death had come, had 保持するd her position. Reverently they lowered the 団体／死体 to the ground, whilst the 視察官 行為／行うd a 簡潔な／要約する examination.

"Fright," he said 簡潔に. "I saw a man like this about ten years ago. She saw something—horrible!"

"Has she got anything in her 手渡す?" asked 刑事 suddenly, and prised open the tightly clenched fingers.

As he did so something fell to the parquet 床に打ち倒す with a clang, and he uttered an exclamation of amazement. It was a 重要な—the fellow to that which reposed at his 銀行業者s.

The two men looked at one another without a word. Then: "Where is Cody?" asked Sneed.

He was searching the 塀で囲む for the telephone wiring, which he had 推定する／予想するd to see, and, guessing his thoughts, 刑事 ツバメ pointed downstairs.

"You're looking for the phone? It is in the library; I saw it when I was here the other night. Moses! Look at that!"

The stairs were carpeted with dark grey carpet, 厚い and luxurious to the tread, and he was gaping at something he had not seen when he （機の）カム up the stairs with the light in his 直面する—the red print of a 明らかにする foot! Stooping, he touched it with his finger.

"血," he said. "I thought I smelt it! I wonder where those feet 選ぶd up that stuff?"

They 設立する the imprint again lower 負かす／撃墜する. In fact, on every second step the stain lay, and the nearer they got to the 底（に届く） of the stairs the more はっきりと defined it was.

"He （機の）カム up two steps at a time—three here," nodded 刑事. "We'll probably find the 追跡する in the hall."

The vestibule was 床に打ち倒すd with polished 支持を得ようと努めるd, but there were three or four Persian rugs of a dark colour, and the prints on these had escaped their notice until they began to search for them.

"Here is one," said 刑事, "and here is another." He pointed. "They lead from that room. 明らかにする feet must have wandered aimlessly here—the footmarks are on every rug."

He tried the 扱う of the door, but it did not move.

"A spring lock," explained Sneed; "fastens automatically when it's の近くにd. What is in the room opposite?"

直面するing the の近くにd door was another, which was unfastened. Two 一連の lights were 燃やすing, which at first 誘発するd 刑事's 疑惑, until he remembered that he himself had turned them on from the switches in the hall. It was evidently a dining-room, beautifully furnished, and empty. The windows were shuttered; there was no 調印する of anything unusual, and he returned to the problem of the locked door.

He carried a very 包括的な 範囲 of 道具s in the 'boot' of his machine; but it was the jack he used for raising his car when he 取って代わるd a wheel that made the 開始 of the door possible. The small crowbar he tried to 挿入する between door and lintel was useless, but when he used the jack, improvising a を締める with the long hall （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, the lock burst.

As the door flew open, he caught a glimpse of the library where he had been received by Cody, and his 注目する，もくろむs, focussing on the 令状ing （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, where the little red lamp still burnt, saw 即時に the overturned telephone. He took two steps into the room, followed by Sneed, when the lights went out, not only in the room but in the hall. "Anybody touch the switch?"

"No, sir," said the 探偵，刑事 outside the door. 刑事 lugged out his electric lamp, which he had 取って代わるd as soon as he had 設立する the switchboard, and walked gingerly に向かって the desk. Coming 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the end of a large settee which ran across the room, he saw the 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd 人物／姿／数字 lying by the 味方する of the desk and it only needed a ちらりと見ること to tell him all that he 恐れるd.

Bertram Cody lay on his 支援する with his 脚s 二塁打d sideways, and he was not a pleasant sight; for the man who killed him had used no other 武器 than the bent and bloodstained poker by his 味方する. His 手渡す still gripped the receiver of the telephone, and he had evidently been in the 行為／法令／行動する of talking when the last 致命的な blow was struck.

All the drawers of the desk had been turned out, emptied, and their contents 明らかに taken away, for not so much as a sheet of paper had been left behind by the 殺害者.

Sneed pulled a pair of white cotton gloves from his pocket, drew them on, and, carefully 解除するing the poker, laid it on the desk. He gave his 指示／教授／教育s in a low トン to one of his men, who went out of the library, evidently to the telephone 関係 which they had seen in the dining-room, for 刑事 heard him talking.

"I've sent for the Scotland Yard photographer and the 地元の police," he said. "There are probably finger-prints on the poker that will be very useful."

There was a door at the さらに先に end of the room, and this, 刑事 discovered, was ajar. It opened upon a small apartment which was probably used as a breakfast-room, for on the small buffet there was a hot plate and an electric toaster. Here one of the windows was open.

"It was Cody who phoned, of course," said 刑事, pulling his lip thoughtfully; "and Mrs Cody who brought Sybil Lansdown here. Sneed, we've got to find that girl!"

He was sick with 恐れる, and the 年上の man could not guess what agony of 疑問 lay behind the calmness of his manner.

"Whoever did this is somewhere around," said Sneed. "The lights did not go off by 事故."

At that moment the man he had sent into the dining-room to telephone to the Yard （機の）カム 支援する.

"The phone wire was 削減（する） while I was talking," he 発表するd, and there was a silence.

"Are you sure?"

"絶対 確かな , sir," said the 探偵，刑事. "I had just got through to the Yard and was talking to Mr Elmer when the 器具 went dead."

Two of the three Scotland Yard men carried たいまつs, fortunately, and one of them went to find the fusebox, and （機の）カム 支援する to 発表する that there was no 調印する of a blow-out.

"I'll 調査する upstairs," said 刑事. "You hang on here, Sneed."

He went up the stairs, past the dreadful 人物／姿／数字 lying on the 上陸, and walked from room to room. Here there was neither 調印する of disorder nor 証拠 that the girl was in the house. And then, as he turned his lamp on the dark carpet, he saw the stains again and 追跡するd them. The barefooted man had evidently wandered up and 負かす／撃墜する the 回廊（地帯）, and it was （疑いを）晴らす to 刑事 ツバメ that he was 負傷させるd, for whilst the 足跡s were no longer 明白な, little 位置／汚点／見つけ出すs of 血 showed at intervals, and there was a smear against the white 塀で囲む which almost 位置を示すd the position of the 負傷させる.

Soon after be 設立する a little bundle of grimy rags, which undoubtedly had been used as a 包帯. The 解答 （機の）カム to him in a moment. The 殺し屋 was the man he had winged in Selford Park—the half-nude savage who had attacked him that night at Gallows Hill. His murderous exertions had 追い出すd the 包帯 and the 負傷させる had begun to bleed again.

He followed the 跡をつける until it turned into the beginning of a 狭くする flight of stairs 主要な to the storey above. He was now on the attic 床に打ち倒す, and evidently there were two ways to this 床に打ち倒す, for only three rooms opened from the passage in which he 設立する himself. The first was a 板材 room; the second was an apartment which held nothing more 悪意のある than a large zinc cistern. It was in the third and last room on the left that he made his 発見. A パネル盤 of the door, which hung upon one hinge, was broken; the lock had been 粉砕するd into three pieces. As the beam of his lamp went systematically 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the room he saw a bed, and then his heart 行方不明になるd a （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域. On the 床に打ち倒す, almost at his feet, was a little handkerchief, dappled red.

He 選ぶd it up with a shaking 手渡す and saw the embroidered 初期のs S. L. Sybil's!

CHAPTER XXII

SNEED CAME up at his call, and together the men searched the room.

"Bloodstains on that door; did you notice them? 負かす／撃墜する there at the 底（に届く）," said Sneed, working his lamp along the パネル盤. "指紋s, and pretty 際立った! Whoever it was, he put his 手渡す under the door and tried to 解除する it off its hinge—look at the size of the prints! This was the gentleman who visited you, ツバメ!"

刑事 nodded.

"No other 調印するs of 暴力／激しさ. No 血 on the 床に打ち倒す," mused Sneed, and 星／主役にするd up at the open skylight. "I'm too fat to go up there. See what you can find."

There was a 議長，司会を務める underneath the square aperture, and 刑事, springing on to it, caught the 辛勝する／優位 of the skylight and drew himself up. He was on a level ledge of roof about three feet wide. A low parapet ran its 十分な length on the one 味方する, whilst on the other the roof rose steeply to the 山の尾根 政治家. 刑事 sent his light ahead of him and saw two yellow 発射／推定s overtopping the parapet. "A 建設業者's ladder," he said, and made his way に向かって it. It was 平易な to see why the ladder had escaped attention when he made his first superficial 調査する of the house. At this point the outside 塀で囲む of the house was thrown 支援する at a 権利 angle, and it was in this angle that the ladder had been 工場／植物d, 非，不，無 too securely. "She must have had some sort of outside help," he said, returning to his companion to 報告（する）／憶測 his find. "It couldn't have been the servants, because there are no servants in the house."

"Help me up," said the 視察官.

It seemed almost impossible to 解除する that 抱擁する man through the skylight, but in truth he was as strong as an ox, and to 刑事's 救済 the only 援助 he needed was 是認 of his ability.

"What about friend Cawler?" 示唆するd Sneed, breathing noisily. He was peering 負かす／撃墜する at the leaden roof, and suddenly:

"Here are your 血 位置／汚点／見つけ出すs," he said, "and here they are again on the ladder. That smear is 際立った enough."

刑事 ツバメ turned 冷淡な with dread, and the hope that had suddenly 生き返らせるd in his heart 消えるd.

"I'll 持つ／拘留する the ladder; get 負かす／撃墜する and see what you can find," said Sneed, and を締めるd himself against the parapet, gripping the 最高の，を越す supports, while 刑事 descended to the dark ground, stopping now and again to 診察する the supports.

He 設立する himself in what was evidently the beginning of a kitchen garden. It was hopeless to look for traces of feet upon the gravelled pathway, which followed a straight course through beds of growing vegetables to a small orchard.

"持つ／拘留する the ladder," shouted Sneed; "I'll come 負かす／撃墜する."

In spite of his 苦悩, ツバメ could not repress a smile at the courage of the big man. He gripped the ladder whilst Sneed （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する with a surprising agility, and together they made a 簡潔な／要約する 偵察 of the ground.

"They couldn't have gone に向かって the house because that hedge shuts it off. There is only one 出口, and that is through the orchard," 視察官 Sneed scratched his 長，率いる in perplexity. "We can't do any 害（を与える） に引き続いて the path to its end."

They had passed the first vegetable bed and had reached the beginning of the second.

"I think it wouldn't be a bad idea—" began Sneed.

Bang! Bang!

From the 不明瞭 ahead of them leapt two pencils of 炎上; something whizzed past them with the noise of an angry wasp.

"Lights out and 嘘（をつく） 負かす／撃墜する," hissed the stout 視察官, and in the fraction of a second they were lying 味方する by 味方する on the path.

And then, from ahead of them, broke a furious staccato fusillade of 解雇する／砲火／射撃. The whine of the 弾丸s seemed continuous. The smack and rustle of them as they passed through the foliage or struck against some solid billet was almost continuous. As suddenly as the 狙撃 began, it 中止するd. The two men listened intently. There was no sound, until there （機の）カム to 刑事's ears a faint 'swish! swish!' as if the coat of their unknown 加害者 was 小衝突ing the 辛勝する／優位 of a bush. The ピストル he held in his 手渡す stiffly before him spat twice in the direction whence the noise had come. There was no other 指示，表示する物 of human presence, no cry or proof of 加速するd movement.

"What have they got there?" whispered Sneed, who was breathing ひどく. "A 連隊 of 兵士s or something?"

"One man with two (a)自動的な／(n)自動拳銃 ピストルs," was the answer in the same トン. "I couldn't count 'em, but I guess twenty 発射s were 解雇する／砲火／射撃d."

A few more minutes passed, and then: "We can get up now, I think."

"I think not," said 刑事.

刑事 was already はうing 今後 on his 手渡すs and 膝s. It was a painful 訴訟／進行; his neck ached, the sharp gravel 削減（する） through the 膝s of his trousers, and his knuckles were bleeding—for it is not 平易な to はう with a large calibre (a)自動的な／(n)自動拳銃 in one's 手渡す. In this fashion he （機の）カム to the place where the gravel path ended and the earth 跡をつける between the trees began.

He listened for a long time, then stood up.

"It's all 権利," he said. Hardly, were the words out of his mouth when a ピストル 爆発するd almost in his 直面する.

CHAPTER XXIII

THE WIND of the 弾丸 （機の）カム so の近くに to his left 注目する，もくろむ that it almost blinded him momentarily. He was stunned with the proximity of the 爆発, staggered, and dropped to his 膝s, and then, ahead of him, he heard the sound of running feet, and 緊急発進するing up, he darted 今後, only to 落ちる headlong again; for the 暗殺者 had 直す／買収する，八百長をするd a trip wire between two of the trees, and later they were to find that this cover to 退却／保養地 had been 任命する／導入するd at intervals along the path. Death had been very 近づく to 刑事 ツバメ that night.

"Could he have got away?"

刑事 nodded.

"Yes," he said すぐに. "There is a 味方する road runs 平行の with the orchard for about two hundred yards; I made a 公正に／かなり 徹底的な examination of the house before my first visit. I 特に 手配中の，お尋ね者 to know the lay-out of the grounds in 事例／患者 there was trouble, and I took the 警戒 of 診察するing a 計画（する） of the 広い地所 before I left town."

He went 支援する to the house, baffled and fretful. Where was Sybil Lansdown? He told himself a dozen times that the girl could be in no 即座の danger without his knowing. Why he should know he could not for the life of him tell; but he was 満足させるd in his mind that his instinct was not 主要な him into error. When they reached the house, all the lights were 燃やすing and one of the officers had a 報告（する）／憶測 to make. There was, he said, an outside transformer; a steel box on the さらに先に 味方する of the lawn, and the アイロンをかける door of this was 設立する to be open.

"That is where the 現在の was disconnected," he explained. "The telephone wire was 平易な; it was 削減（する） outside the house."

With the 援助（する） of the lights they were able to make a very 完全にする examination of the house, but there was no 手がかり（を与える） of any 肉親，親類d, and whilst they were 検査／視察するing Mrs Cody's bedroom the 地元の police arrived. 明らかに Scotland Yard had heard enough of the interrupted conversation, before the wire was 削減（する）, to communicate with the Sussex police, and a special 軍隊 of 探偵，刑事s had been packed off from Chichester by car.

Sneed waited until the officers had 分配するd themselves through the house, and went on with the work which their arrival had interrupted. He was trying a bunch of 重要なs on a small box of Indian workmanship.

"設立する this under the bed," he said laconically. "Queer how a 確かな class of people keep things under their beds, and another class keep 'em under their pillows. That fits, I think."

He turned the 重要な and opened the box. It was filled with papers —letters, old 法案s, a concert programme of a very remote date, and かもしれない associated, in the mind of the poor dead woman, with what there was of romance in life.

"You take the 最高の，を越す bundle; I'll search the 残り／休憩（する）."

刑事 untied the 略章 which fastened the papers together and began to read. There was a letter of two written in childish handwriting, and one scrawled 公式文書，認める 調印するd 'Your loving nefew, John Cawler'.

"I thought she only had one 甥—Tom?"

"You never know how many 甥s people have," said the indifferent Sneed.

"But this speaks about Tom. It must be his brother?"

Sneed looked up.

"I wonder where that darned chauffeur is? I sent a call out to pull him in. He's been 行方不明の since last night, and I don't 除外する the 可能性 of his having had something to do with this 殺人."

"I 支配する that out 完全に," said 刑事 敏速に. "I know Cawler; he's not that 肉親，親類d of man. I wouldn't 信用 him with any goods 価値のある and portable, but the habitual 犯罪の is not a 殺害者."

Sneed grunted a half 協定, and went on reading.

Presently, almost at the 底（に届く） of the bundle 刑事 had under examination, he 設立する a 公式文書，認める written in a clerkly 手渡す.

'DEAR MRS CAWLER (it ran),
I have just seen Stalletti, and he tells me that his lordship is very ill indeed. I wish you would send me the 最新の news, for 推論する／理由s which you 井戸／弁護士席 know and which need not be について言及するd.
Yours faithfully, H. BERTRAM.'

"He calls himself Bertram—but the handwriting is Cody's," said Sneed, puzzled. "Bertram? I seem to know the 指名する."

刑事 was looking past the letter into vacancy.

"Then they were all 熟知させるd," he said slowly. "Cody, Mrs Cody, Stalletti, and the late Lord Selford. When Cody said he knew nothing of the Selfords he was lying."

"You knew that, anyway," said the other.

刑事 turned over letter after letter, but no その上の （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） reached him except a copy of a marriage 証明書. This, however, he did not find till the box had been 完全に turned out.

"Humph!" he said. "They married about eight months after the late Lord Selford's death, by special licence. Stalletti was a 証言，証人／目撃する, and William Brown. Now, who the devil is William Brown?"

"It's not an uncommon 指名する," said Mr Sneed sententiously.

Their search finished, they went 支援する to the library. Sneed took the hollow-注目する，もくろむd young man by the arm and led him to a 静かな corner.

"Where do we go from here?" he asked.

"I don't know," said the other helplessly.

He put his 手渡す in his pocket, took out the 重要な and 診察するd it.

"Number four! I've got three more to find, and then somebody will be hanged for this night's work!"

"Where shall we go from here?" asked Sneed again.

刑事 looked at his watch. The 手渡すs pointed to a ４半期/4分の1 past two.

"Selford Manor," he said 簡潔に. "It has just occurred to me that we're only three miles away from that home of the nobility."

They went out into the open, where 刑事 had left his car.

"What do you 推定する／予想する to find there?"

"I'm not sure yet," said 刑事, as he got into the seat and put his foot on the starter. "But I have an idea that I shall find—something!"

The car moved, but not 刻々と. It waddled and jarred 今後 a few paces, and then 刑事 stopped and jumped out.

"I'm afraid I shall have to go on my two big feet," he said, and turned the light on to the wheels.

Every tyre had been 削除するd in a dozen places and was やめる flat.

CHAPTER XXIV

That moment of terror when Sybil 星／主役にするd up into the 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 直面する of Cawler, the chauffeur, remained with her all her life, Behind she heard the grunts and thuds of the beast-man who was trying to open the door. Above her, behind the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s and the glass, another possible enemy. The 直面する disappeared for a moment, and then she heard the sound of hideous squeaking and the grating was turned 支援する on its rusty hinge. A few seconds and the でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる of the skylight was 解除するd, and a 手渡す reached 負かす／撃墜する to her. Without a moment's hesitation she sprang on to the 議長，司会を務める, gripped the 手渡す, and 設立する herself 存在 pulled 上向き.

"持つ／拘留する on to the 辛勝する／優位 for a minute—I'm puffed!" gasped Cawler, and she obeyed.

Over her shoulder she saw the door bulging, and then there （機の）カム a 衝突，墜落 as a 抱擁する 団体／死体 was thrown against it.

"Up with you!" said the chauffeur, and, stretching 負かす／撃墜する, gripped her beneath the 武器 and pulled her far enough up to enable her, by her own exertions, to reach the flat, lead-covered roof.

Cawler looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する anxiously. As he gazed at the door he saw a パネル盤 shiver. 持つ／拘留するing the girl by the arm he drew her along the roof. An old lantern, illuminated by a candle, was all the light there was to guide them, but she saw the end of the ladder, and, without a word of 指示／教授／教育, swung herself over and, remembering a trick of her childhood, slid 負かす／撃墜する; it was not dignified, but it was 早い. She had hardly reached the ground before she was joined by Cawler.

He looked anxiously at the parapet. The moon was momentarily obscured by clouds, but there was enough light to see the silhouette of the 巨大（な） man as he too （機の）カム to the ladder. There was no time to pull it 負かす／撃墜する. Gripping the girl by the arm, they raced along a path, turned 突然の, and, threading their way through the trees, ran without stopping until they reached a shallow 溝へはまらせる／不時着する, across which he 補助装置d her.

Cawler had 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd the lantern away before the flight began. They had no other light to lead them but the fitful rays of the moon. At the other 味方する of the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する he stopped.

"Don't make a noise," he whispered.

She could hear nothing, but he seemed uncertain.

"If I could only get at my car," he muttered. "Come on!"

They 労働d through a field of growing corn until they （機の）カム to a gate; which was open. Now they were on a road and 直面するing a very high, old 塀で囲む.

"That's Selford Park," explained Cawler, and the girl started. Selford Park! She had no idea they were anywhere 近づく that dreadful place, and she shivered.

"There's a gap in the 塀で囲む さらに先に along; I think that'll be the best place to take you. If he gets on our 跡をつける we shan't be able to shake him off."

"Who is he?" she asked, and then: "What happened? I heard somebody 叫び声をあげる."

"So did I," said Cawler in a low 発言する／表明する. "I thought it was you. That's why I got the ladder and （機の）カム up to see what was happening. I've been up there before, and I know that old skylight like a 調書をとる／予約する."

He did not explain that he was by nature curious and 怪しげな, and that he had his own 見解（をとる）s as to Cody's 誠実 in 確かな 事柄s and had indulged in a little 私的な 調査 of his own. As it happened, this theory that Cody was a swell mobsman (Mr Cawler invariably theorized on a magnificent 規模) was miles away from the truth; but he had made many surreptitious visits into the forbidden 部分s of the house without 後継するing, however, in 確認するing his natural prejudices against the man who was his master.

"Something's happening; I know that," he said, as they walked along the road. "I've seen him once before—that naked man. At least, he's not naked; he's got an old pair of breeches on, but he don't wear any shirt."

"Who is he?" she asked, in a horrified whisper.

"I don't know. A sort of 巨大（な）—a bit mad, I think. I only saw him at a distance once, and he 脅すd the life out of me. I've got an idea—but that won't 利益／興味 you. Here's the 穴を開ける in the 塀で囲む." It was not 明白な, even in daylight, for the gap was filled with a seemingly impassable 障壁 of rhododendrons, but Mr Cawler had evidently been here before also, for he 解除するd a bough, and, はうing under, she 設立する herself inside the park.

It was not that 部分 of the park with which she was familiar, and he told her, as they trudged across the billowy grass, that it was called Shepherds' Meadows, and that here the old lord had kept his famous Southdowns. He kept up an intermittent flow of talk; told her, to her surprise, that Mrs Cody was his aunt.

"She brought me up when I was a kid, me and my brother Johnny; he died when I was about six."

"Have you been with her all your life?" asked the girl, glad to have some 利益／興味 to take her mind off her experience.

He laughed contemptuously. "With her? Lord, no! I got away as soon as I could."

"Wasn't she 肉親，親類d to you?"

"She's never heard the word," was the uncompromising reply. "肉親，親類d? I'd say she was! If I went to bed without feeling hungry I used to think I was ill! She used to whack me to keep her in good 形態／調整, the same as you take dumb-bell 演習. She hated Johnny worse than me. He was my twin brother. I reckon he was pretty lucky to die."

She listened in amazement.

"And yet you went 支援する to her?"

Cawler did not すぐに answer, and when he did he prefaced his words with a little chuckle.

"She made good and I made bad," he said. "Not to tell you a 嘘（をつく）, 行方不明になる, I've been in 刑務所，拘置所 sixteen times, おもに for hooking."

"For thieving?" she guessed.

"That's 権利," he said, in no sense abashed. "I'm a natural-born どろぼう. モーター-cars mostly. I've taken more cars from racetracks than you'll ever own, young lady. But the last time I was up before the 裁判官," he 追加するd in a more serious トン, "he gave me a 警告 that the next time I went up to the Old Bailey I'd be 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d as an 'habitual'. That means a man who's always doing the same 肉親，親類d of 罪，犯罪, and they can always give you twelve years for that, so I やめる. （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する on dear auntie for a 職業. I don't know why she took me on. Perhaps she thought, 存在 a relation, I'd do any dirty work she 手配中の，お尋ね者 done—and I've done one or two queer 職業s."

He stopped and 動議d her to be silent, and suddenly lying 負かす／撃墜する looked along the 公正に／かなり level patch of ground across which they were moving. The landscape was unfamiliar to her.

On their left was what looked like a high white cliff, and she saw at its foot the gleam of water.

"That's the quarry," he said, に引き続いて the direction of her 注目する，もくろむs. "There is a sort of road running along the 最高の，を越す, but it is very dangerous—no rails or 塀で囲む or anything. People have been killed 落ちるing over."

He stopped again and looked 支援する the way they had come. Evidently he saw something.

"You go on," he whispered. "耐える to the left. There's a bit of a 支持を得ようと努めるd there. Keep 井戸／弁護士席 away from the quarry."

"Who is it you see?" she asked, her 膝s trembling.

"I don't know." He was deliberately evasive. "You walk on and do as I tell you, and don't make too much noise."

She was terrified at the idea of 存在 alone, but his 指示／教授／教育s were so 緊急の that she could not 辞退する, and, turning, she made in the direction of the little copse which she saw 輪郭（を描く）d against the sky.

Cawler waited, flat on his 直面する, his 注目する，もくろむs watching the 人物／姿／数字 that was aimlessly wandering left and 権利, but coming 必然的に in his direction. 恐れる, as we understand 恐れる, Mr Cawler did not know. His shrewd Cockney wit, 連合した to a 確かな ruthlessness in 戦闘, steeled him for the coming 遭遇（する）. In his 手渡す he gripped a long, steel, flat spanner, the only 武器 he had brought with him, and as the 広大な／多数の／重要な ぎこちない 人物／姿／数字 ぼんやり現れるd up before him, Tom Cawler leapt at him.

The sound of an animal howl of 激怒（する）, the thud and flurry of 戦う／戦い （機の）カム to the ears of the fearful girl, and she ran 今後 blindly. In the dark she つまずくd into a tree and dropped, breathless, to the ground; but with a superhuman 成果／努力 she 緊急発進するd to her feet and continued her flight, feeling her way through the closely grown copse. Every minute seemed to bring her to some new impenetrable 障壁 which 反抗するd circumvention.

Now she was （疑いを）晴らす of the 支持を得ようと努めるd and crossing a level stretch of 牧草地. Again she was climbing. No sound （機の）カム from behind her. She was ignorant of the direction she was taking, or whither this erratic path of hers would lead; and when she （機の）カム to another 支持を得ようと努めるd, she thought that she had run in a circle and returned to the place whence she had started. And then, most 突然に, she （機の）カム into a （疑いを）晴らすing. The moonlight showed the white ドーム of a 激しく揺する, and threw into 影をつくる／尾行する the 黒人／ボイコット gap in its 直面する. She nearly fainted. She was at the mouth of the Selford tombs, and the アイロンをかける gate was open!

Her heart 強くたたくd painfully. It 要求するd the 演習 of a 最高の will to 妨げる herself from 崩壊（する）ing. Presently, gritting her teeth and 命令（する）ing her 滞るing 四肢s, she walked に向かって the mouth of the tomb. The 重要な was in the lock, she saw, and peered fearfully 負かす／撃墜する into its dark depths. As she hesitated, she heard something behind her—a 深い, sobbing, blubbering sound that froze her 血.

That beast-形態／調整 was coming through the 支持を得ようと努めるd after her. She reeled against the 直面する of the tomb, her 手渡すs gripping the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s of the open gate, and then, with a sudden 解決する, half-hysterical with terror, she darted into the mouth of the 丸天井, and, slamming the gate behind her, thrust her 手渡す through the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s, turned the 重要な, and withdrew it.

She listened; there was silence in the tomb, and, creeping 負かす／撃墜する the moss-grown stairs, she reached the first 議会. At the foot of the stairs she waited, listening, and after a while she heard the soft pad of feet above and a sound of crying. She shrank 支援する に向かって the 閉めだした gate which separated the antechamber from the tomb. And then a 影をつくる／尾行する fell athwart the upper door, and she breathed painfully, her 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on the steps. Suppose he broke the lock? And she was alone...負かす／撃墜する here with the dead, in the dark.

She 押し進めるd her 手渡す through the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s, and even as she wondered and dreaded, a new horror afflicted her; for her 手渡す was suddenly gripped by a large, 冷淡な, clammy paw that had reached out from the 不明瞭 of the tomb.

With a 叫び声をあげる she turned to 直面する the new terror.

CHAPTER XXV

SHE COULD see nothing. Fighting like a tiger to 解放する／自由な herself, her other 手渡す passed through the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s and caught a wild 絡まる of 耐えるd.

"Hush!" The 発言する／表明する was 深い, sepulchral. "I will not 害（を与える） you if you tell me what you do here."

It was human, at any 率, more human than the thing that had been chasing her.

"I am Sybil—Lansdown," she gasped. "I （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する here to get away from—a horrible—"

"So!" The 支配する on her wrist relaxed. "I will open the door. Stand 支援する, if you please; do not move until I have lit the lamp."

The door was opened and she nearly fell through.

She saw a flicker of 炎上, heard a glass globe tinkle. He had lit a small kerosene lamp, which cast an eerie light upon the weird scene. She looked at the man curiously. His sallow, lined 直面する; his long 黒人／ボイコット 耐えるd, which, with a woman's intuition, she knew was dyed; his unsavoury frock-coat, splashed and stained till its 初めの colour could only be guessed at; the little 黒人／ボイコット skull cap on the 支援する of his 長，率いる—all these 連合させるd to give him a peculiarly 悪意のある 外見.

In 前線 of the door with seven locks was a small leather 持つ／拘留する-all, which was open, 明らかにする／漏らすing a number of 器具s. One, 似ているing a gimlet, she saw, 存在 挿入するd in the second lock of the door.

"What 脅すd you, my little one?" His 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs were 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on hers, and seemed to 所有する an hypnotic 質, for she could not 除去する her gaze.

"A—a man," she stammered.

He lit a cigarette very slowly—indeed with something of a ritual—and blew a cloud of smoke to the 丸天井d 天井.

"At three o'clock in the morning?" He arched his eyebrows. "Surely the young 行方不明になる who wanders about the country in the middle of the night is not to be 脅すd by a man? Sit 負かす／撃墜する—on the 床に打ち倒す. You are too tall for me. Women who are taller than me 支配する, and I cannot 苦しむ 支配."

He took the gimlet 形態／調整 from the door, 取って代わるd it in the 道具 道具, and rolled up the leather, strapping it very carefully and deliberately.

"You have come to 秘かに調査する on me—yes? I heard you の近くに the gate and creep 負かす／撃墜する the stairs—I am in a quandary! What am I to do with a young lady who 秘かに調査するs upon me? You realize, of course, that I am 本気で 妥協d and that, if I tell you I am an antiquarian and 利益／興味d in these strange and 古代の mysteries, you will laugh in your sleeve and not believe me, nor will your 雇用者s. What was your 指名する?"

She had to wet her 乾燥した，日照りの lips before she replied. She saw his 注目する，もくろむs 狭くする.

"Sybil Lansdown?" he said, almost はっきりと. "You are, of course, the girl—how coincident!"

He had a queer, un-English way of でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるing his 宣告，判決s, which alone betrayed his foreign origin, for さもなければ his English was perfect.

She had obeyed his 命令（する） and was sitting on the 石／投石する-flagged 床に打ち倒す.

She had never thought of hesitating or even 尋問 his 命令（する）s, and it did not seem strange to her that she should 受託する his orders without any 試みる／企てる to resist his wishes.

"The whole 訴訟／進行s are incredibly bizarre," he said, and then for a moment turned from her to 診察する the door with the seven locks. His long, uncleanly fingers touched the skull's 長，率いる caressingly.

"You are beyond change—she is also beyond change, for she is an old woman by an inflexible 基準. Too old, too old, 式のs! too old!" He shook his 長，率いる mournfully and again turned his dark 注目する，もくろむs upon her. "If you were eight or nine it would be simple. But you are—what?"

"Twenty-two," she said, and his lips clicked impatiently.

"Nothing can be done except—" His 注目する，もくろむs 逸脱するd along the 狭くする, 独房-like doors, behind which the dead and forgotten Selfords lay in their niches, and 冷淡な 恐れる gripped her heart with icy fingers. "You are a woman, but to me women are that!" He snapped his fingers. "They are weak 構成要素 for 実験. They do not 反応する 普通は—いつかs they die, and years of 実験 go for nothing."

She saw him purse his wet lips thoughtfully, as he walked past her and tried one of the 激しい oaken doors, peering through the rusty grating.

"The whole 状況／情勢 is incredibly bizarre and embarrassing—the man you saw outside, was he 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の of 外見?"

She nodded dumbly.

"That, of course, would be a way," he said, as if he were speaking to himself. "On the other 手渡す, he is so clumsy—which is natural. They cannot altogether be trained out of clumsiness, because fineness of 死刑執行 要求するs delicate mental 調整s. Could a locomotive thread a needle? No! How much easier would it be for a sewing-machine to pull a train?"

He fumbled in the pocket of his waistcoat, which scarcely met over his trousers, failed to find what he 手配中の，お尋ね者, and dived his 手渡す into the breast pocket of his frock-coat.

"Ah! Here she is!"

It was a small green phial he held in his 手渡す, and when he shook it she heard the 動揺させる of tablets, as she guessed. He drew the cork from the neck of the phial with his teeth and shook two little red pellets on to his 手渡す.

"Swallow these," he said.

She held out her palm obediently.

"Incredibly bizarre and unfortunate," muttered Stalletti, as he went to the second of the tomb doors and 押し進めるd a 重要な in the lock. "If all the doors in this 哀れな house opened so readily, what unhappiness and trouble would be saved, eh?" He looked at her はっきりと. "You have not done as I told you," he said. She was sitting, the two red pellets, like evil 注目する，もくろむs, gleaming up from the white palm.

"Quick—do not hesitate!" he said commandingly. She raised her 手渡す to her lips. Yet her ego was fighting subconsciously and 個々に against the mastery of this strange man. Obedient to an order which she did not 始める, the white teeth caught the pellets and held them. 満足させるd, Mr Stalletti 演説（する）／住所d himself to 開始 the third tomb. And the very physical movement of him for a second 解放（する）d her from his mental tyranny. The pellets dropped 支援する into her 手渡す.

He pulled open the 木造の door, creaking and groaning, and, coming 支援する, 選ぶd up the lamp, giving her only a casual ちらりと見ること as he passed, disappeared through the door. At that second his （一定の）期間 was broken. She sprang to her feet and fled along the passage, slamming the 取調べ／厳しく尋問する behind her. In another second she was in the open 空気／公表する. One 恐れる for the moment had 殺害された the other, and she did not pause to look left or 権利 for the 形態／調整 that lurked outside, but flew like the 勝利，勝つd along the path which was by now familiar as though she had trod it all her life.

Where was Cawler? She thought of him now, but only for a second. Beyond this valley, she thought, there was another field of grass, then the 塀で囲む of a farmhouse, then Selford Manor. A 管理人 was there; perhaps other servants of whose 存在 she did not know. She remembered the last time she had come across this shallow valley. 刑事 ツバメ had been with her. At the thought of him she winced. What would she not give to have this 静める personality at her 肘 now!

It was still dark, but in the east the pallor of coming day had 色合いd the skies. Let daylight come quickly, she prayed. Another hour of 緊張 and she would go mad.

As she crossed the farmyard she heard the 動揺させる of a chain, and a dog 緊張するd at her with a savage yelp. But so far from this 予期しない 出来事/事件 増加するing her terror, it brought almost a sense of 慰安, and she stopped, whistled, and called him by a 指名する. There never was a dog that could 脅す Sybil Lansdown. She went fearlessly に向かって the yelping beast, and in a minute the big retriever was rubbing himself against her 膝 and quivering under her caressing 手渡す.

As she stood to 解放（する） the chain that fastened him, she felt a piece of rope on the ground, and she 設立する it was about six feet long, evidently a disused 着せる／賦与するs-line. This would make a 資本／首都 leash, and she slipped the end through the D of the dog's collar and went on her way at a slower pace and happier than she had been these twelve hours past.

By this approach she （機の）カム to Selford Manor from the wings, and had to turn 突然の to the 権利 before she was at the 前線 of the house. Selford Manor 現在のd an 無傷の 前線 save for its porticoed 入り口, of long, 狭くする, and rather ugly windows. It had been partly rebuilt in the 統治する of Queen Anne, and its architect, by some unhappy trick of fancy, had produced all that was least lovely of that period. A 狭くする flower-bed ran under the windows, and a 幅の広い 石／投石する path ran 平行の with its facade. Along this she walked and she did not 試みる／企てる to move noiselessly. Suddenly she heard the dog growl and felt the leash grow taut. She stopped and looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, but there was nothing 怪しげな in sight. It might have been a fox, she thought, slipping from one of the bush clumps which dotted the park, but he was pointing straight ahead.

Until now the windows had been blank and lifeless, but a few paces on she saw a gleam of light, and moved on tiptoe に向かって the window, which was the third from the 入り口 door. She looked into a room panelled from 天井 to 床に打ち倒す. A candle burnt on the big oak （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, which was its 主要な／長／主犯, indeed, its only, article of furniture. At first she saw nothing, and then a movement 近づく the wide, open fireplace caught her 注目する，もくろむ, and only in time did she check the 叫び声をあげる which rose to her lips.

A man was coming out of the 影をつくる／尾行する of the fireplace; a big lion-長，率いるd man, with a long yellow 耐えるd, and hair that fell in waves over his shoulders. He wore a pair of ragged canvas shorts that hardly reached to his 明らかにする 膝s, but for the 残り／休憩（する） the 団体／死体 was 明らかにする. The muscles rippled under the fair 肌, they stood up in his 武器 like 抱擁する ropes; she looked, and for some queer 推論する／理由 was not afraid. Unaware that he was 観察するd, the strange creature crept stealthily from his place of concealment, and, taking up the candle in his thin 手渡す, blew it out. In that moment she had a glimpse of the 空いている 直面する and the wide, 星／主役にするing blue 注目する，もくろむs that gazed unseeingly into space. She held the dog 権利 by the muzzle to 妨げる his betraying her presence, and, turning, went 支援する the way she had come, until she reached the 辛勝する／優位 of the farmyard. Should she 誘発する the 管理人, or should she go on to the nearest village, taking the dog with her for 保護?

She felt the cord in her 手渡す 強化する, and, with a savage snarl, the retriever leapt at something she could not see. And then she heard the sound of footsteps coming from the direction of the 運動, and she 設立する her 発言する／表明する at last.

"Who is there?" she 需要・要求するd huskily. "Don't come any nearer."

"Thank God!" said a 発言する／表明する, and she nearly swooned with 救済, for the man who had come out of the night was 刑事 ツバメ.

CHAPTER XXVI

IT SEEMED to Captain Sneed that there was little excuse for his いつか subordinate taking the girl in his 武器 unless he was 適切に engaged to her; for Mr Sneed was a stickler for the proprieties, and though during his life he had appeared a 得点する／非難する／２０ of times in the 役割 of 救助者, he had never felt it necessary either to embrace (he called it 'cuddle' vulgarly) or to 持つ／拘留する the 手渡す of the 救助（する）d.

"Don't tell me now," said 刑事. "We'll get you some food. Poor child. You must be famished!"

"Wait!"

His 手渡す was gripping the long steel bellpull when she caught it.

"There's somebody in there," she said 速く and almost incoherently. "A strange man. I saw him through the window."

Disjointedly she 述べるd what she had seen, and he did not betray his 関心.

"Some tramp," he 示唆するd when she had finished. "Were any of the windows open?"

She shook her 長，率いる. She was disappointed that he took her news so calmly.

"No, I 港／避難所't seen an open window."

"It may be a friend of the 管理人's," said 刑事, and pulled the bell.

The hollow clang （機の）カム 支援する to him faintly.

"Anybody asleep in the house will hear that."

His arm was about the girl. She was still trembling violently and was on the 瀬戸際 of a 決裂／故障, he guessed. His 手渡す was raised to （犯罪の）一味 again when he heard a sound of feet in the 石／投石する hall and a 発言する／表明する 需要・要求するd:

"Who is there?"

"Mr ツバメ and 行方不明になる Lansdown," said 刑事, 認めるing the 管理人's 発言する／表明する.

Chains 動揺させるd, a lock was turned, and the door opened. The 管理人 was dressed in his shirt and trousers, and had evidently come straight from his bed. He blinked owlishly at the party and asked the time.

"Come in, sir," he said. "Is anything wrong?"

"Have you any friends staying with you?" asked 刑事 the moment he was inside the door.

"Me, sir?" said he man in surprise. "No," and with unconscious humour, "only my wife. And you'd hardly call her a friend."

"Any man, I mean."

"No, sir," said the 管理人. "Wait a minute; I'll get a light."

Selford Manor was illuminated by an old-fashioned system of acetylene lamps, and the 管理人 turned on a burner, emitting a whiff of evil-smelling gas, before he lit a jet that illuminated the hall very 効果的に.

The 探偵，刑事's first thought was of the room in which the girl had seen the stranger, and this he entered, but when the lights were lit there was no 調印する of any bearded man, and as this door was the only 出口 and had been locked and bolted on the outside, his first thought was that the over-wrought girl had imagined the 出来事/事件. Bur an examination of the wide chimney-place 原因（となる）d him to change his mind. Leaning against the brick 塀で囲む of the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 休会, he 設立する an old ashplant walking-stick, its knob glossy with use.

"Is this yours?"

The 管理人 shook his 長，率いる.

"No, sir; and it wasn't there last night. I swept up this room before I went to bed. I do one room a week, and I've been rather busy today in the garden and hadn't time until after tea."

"I suppose this house is 十分な of secret passages?" asked 刑事 ironically. He had a 探偵，刑事's proper contempt for these 発明s of romantic 小説家s.

To his surprise the man replied in the affirmative. "There's a Jesuit room somewhere in the house, によれば all I've heard," he said. "I've never seen it myself—the old housekeeper told me about it, but I don't think she'd seen it either."

刑事 went along the 塀で囲むs, （電話線からの）盗聴 each パネル盤, but they seemed solid enough. He threw the light of his lamp up the chimney. It was 公正に／かなり 狭くする, considering the age of the house, and there were アイロンをかける rungs placed at intervals, up which the chimney-sweeps of old times had climbed to 成し遂げる their 義務s. He 診察するd the 塀で囲む of the fireplace carefully; there was no 調印する of 最近の scratching, and it seemed impossible that the 侵入者 could have escaped in that direction. Carrying the stick to the light, he 診察するd the ferrule; there was earth on it, new and moist.

"What do you make of it?" asked Sneed.

刑事 was scowling at the fireplace. "I'm blest if I know what to make of it."

He was anxious to be alone with the girl, to hear from her the story of her escape, and, cutting short his 調査s, he took her into the room in which they had been received on their first night and settled her before the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 which the 管理人 had lighted.

Although the night was by no means chilly, Sybil was 冷淡な and shivering, and he saw that she was nearer to 崩壊（する） than he had at first supposed. Not until the 管理人 （機の）カム 支援する from the kitchen with a steaming bowl of coffee and toasted bread did he 試みる／企てる to question her about the night's adventures. She ate and drank ravenously, for now she realized that she had eaten nothing since the previous day's 昼食.

The two men, sitting one on each 味方する of her on the settee, which had been pulled up to the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, listened without comment until she had finished her story. Only once did 刑事 interrupt, and that was to ask a question about the red pellets. She had thrown them away in her flight, however.

"That doesn't 事柄. We shall find the 瓶／封じ込める when we take Stalletti," said Sneed impatiently. "Go on, 行方不明になる Lansdown."

At last she finished.

"It sounds to you like the ravings of a madwoman," she said ruefully. "I don't know why Mr Cody kept me. Did anything happen to him?" she asked quickly.

刑事 did not answer at once.

"I heard someone 叫び声をあげる—it was terrible!" She shuddered. "Was it anything to do with Mr Cody?"

"かもしれない." 刑事 避けるd the question. "You say that Cawler is still in the park? You saw somebody に引き続いて you—did you hear any sound of a struggle?"

She nodded, and he walked to the window and pulled 支援する the curtains. The 夜明け was here, and to search the grounds would be a simple 事柄 in daylight.

As he looked, two 有望な lights （機の）カム into 見解（をとる）. It was a モーター-car coming up the long 運動.

"Did you send for more police?" he asked Sneed over his shoulder.

"No," said Sneed in surprise. "There is no phone 大（公）使館員d to this old-fashioned mansion, and I could not have sent if I 手配中の，お尋ね者. Seems to me I know the sound of that flivver."

They walked out to the portico as the dust-covered car （機の）カム to a 行き詰まり before the door and Mr Havelock jumped out.

"Is everything all 権利?" he asked anxiously. "Is 行方不明になる Lansdown here?"

"Yes; how did you know?"

"Is she 安全な?" 主張するd the lawyer.

"やめる 安全な. Come in." 刑事 was mystified, as the tall man followed him into the hall. "Why did you come?" he asked.

For answer, Havelock searched his waistcoat pocket, and taking out a 倍のd sheet of paper, 手渡すd it to the 探偵，刑事. It was a letter 耐えるing the embossed crest of the Ritz-Carlton, and was written in a 手渡す with which he was, by now, familiar.

DEAR HAVELOCK,
I cannot explain all I have to tell in this letter. But I beg of you to go すぐに to Selford Manor. Somewhere in the neighbourhood is my cousin, Sybil Lansdown, and she is in deadly 危険，危なくする. So is everybody associated with her—so also are you. For God's sake get the girl to the house and keep her there until I arrive. I cannot かもしれない get to you until the 早期に hours of tomorrow morning. Again I implore you not to 許す 行方不明になる Lansdown or her friends to leave Selford Park until I arrive.
SELFORD.

"My 前線 door bell rang about one o'clock in the morning, and rang so 断固としてやる that I got out of bed to discover who was the 報知係. I 設立する this in my letter box, but no messenger. At first I thought it was a hoax, and I was going 支援する to bed when Selford rang me up and asked me if I had the message. When I said 'Yes' he implored me to do as he asked, and before I could question him, he had hung up on me."

刑事 診察するd the 令状ing. It was in the same 手渡す as all the letters he had seen.

"And then," Havelock went on, "I had the good sense to call up Mrs Lansdown, and learned for the first time of her daughter's 見えなくなる."

"Did you communicate with Scotland Yard?"

"No, I didn't," 自白するd Havelock irritably. "I suppose I should have done, but when I 設立する that our excellent friend, Mr ツバメ, had gone out in search of the young lady, I supposed that he would have taken every 警戒 to 安全な・保証する 援助. She is here, you say?"

刑事 opened the door and 勧めるd in the 予期しない 報知係. It was daylight now, to the girl's 激しい 救済, and with every familiar 直面する she felt herself growing in courage. The shock of her adventure had been for a while paralysing to her mind and 団体／死体, and had left her tired and incapable of しっかり掴むing the 十分な significance of her night's experience. It was light enough to search the grounds, 刑事 decided, and, 辞退するing Sneed's 援助, he went alone through the farmyard に向かって the tombs. Ten minutes' walk brought him to the アイロンをかける 取調べ／厳しく尋問する. It was locked, and 明白に there was nothing to be 伸び（る）d by searching the 丸天井s, for Stalletti would have made his 逃亡 すぐに after the girl's escape. The only thing to be done now was to go 支援する by the way the girl had come and which she had 述べるd 井戸／弁護士席 enough to 許す him to follow.

A ４半期/4分の1 of an hour's walk brought him to the place where, as nearly as he could guess, Tom Cawler had stayed behind to 会合，会う his 攻撃者. He ４半期/4分の1d the ground carefully. A struggle on grass would leave few 調印するs except to the careful 観察者／傍聴者. Presently he 設立する what he was 捜し出すing—a torn tuft of turf, the 示す of a rubber heel, a 不景気 in the grass, where somebody had lain. He went 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す in circles, 推定する／予想するing to find 調印するs of a 激しい 団体／死体 having been dragged across the ground, but to his surprise this 手がかり（を与える） was not 明白な. If Cawler had been killed, and he did not 疑問 he had been killed, what had been done with the 団体／死体? To search the innumerable clumps of 支持を得ようと努めるd which dotted the park was out of the question. He went 支援する to 報告（する）／憶測 his 失敗.

When he （機の）カム into the room, the lawyer and Sneed were discussing something in a low トン.

"Mr Havelock is rather worried about the man whom the young lady saw," explained Sneed. "He thinks he is still in the house. That isn't my belief."

"Where is this Jesuit room?" asked 刑事, and Havelock, にもかかわらず his 苦悩, was amused.

"The Jesuit room is a myth!" he said. "I heard that story a year ago and had an architect 負かす／撃墜する to square up the house, he told me there was no space 原因不明の／行方不明の（unaccounnted-for） for, and the 計画（する）s 証明する this. Most of these Tudor houses have some sort of secret apartment, but so far as we know, there is nothing mysterious about Selford Manor except its smelly system of gas-lighting!"

"What do you ーするつもりである doing?" asked Havelock after the pause which followed.

"My inclination is to return to town. 行方不明になる Lansdown must, of course, go 支援する to her mother," said 刑事.

The 年上の man shook his 長，率いる 厳粛に.

"I hope 行方不明になる Lansdown will agree to stay," he said. "かもしれない—and 自然に—she may 反対する, but there is more in Selford's letter than I dare understand."

"You mean about not leaving the Manor for twenty-four hours?"

Havelock nodded.

"I take a very serious 見解（をとる） of this 警告," he said. "I believe there is a terrible danger lurking somewhere in the background, and I 示唆する—and I suppose you'll think I am a 脅すd old man—that we stay here until tomorrow, and that Mr Sneed brings 負かす／撃墜する a dozen men to patrol the grounds tonight."

刑事 星／主役にするd at him.

"Do you really mean this?" he asked.

"I do," said Mr Havelock, and there was no mistaking his earnestness. "Mr Sneed is of the same opinion. There have been one or two happenings in the history of this family which I think you せねばならない know. I won't be so melodramatic as to 示唆する that there is a 悪口を言う／悪態 overhanging the house of Selford, but it is a fact that, with the exception of the late Lord Selford, five earlier 支えるもの／所有者s of the 肩書を与える have died violently, and in each 事例／患者 the death has been に先行するd by happenings almost as remarkable as those we have 証言，証人／目撃するd recently."

刑事 smiled.

"But we're not members of the Selford family," he said.

"I think for the moment we may regard ourselves as 存在 同一の with the Selford 利益／興味s," Havelock answered quickly. "There is a something very 悪意のある in Selford's continued absence—I never realized that fact so 明確に as I do now, I have been a fool to 許す—and, I am afraid, to 扇動する his wanderings. All sorts of things may have happened to him."

Not by so much as a twitch of 直面する did 刑事 ツバメ betray his knowledge of the absent Lord Selford's secret.

"But I can't 許す 行方不明になる Lansdown to stay here—" he began.

"I have thought of that, and my idea is to ask her mother to come 負かす／撃墜する. The house is 井戸／弁護士席 在庫／株d in the 事柄 of furniture, and I dare say we could get 一時的な servants from the village. The 管理人 knows everybody hereabouts."

刑事 ちらりと見ることd at Sneed and saw, by the fat man's 直面する, that he agreed.

"I'll go into the village and get on the phone," he said. "Anyway, I'd prefer to sleep here today than go 支援する to town. I'm all in."

It was not so astonishing that Sybil fell in with this 見解（をとる）, though Selford's letter had no 影響（力） on her 決定／判定勝ち（する）. The reaction after such a night was painfully evident. She was tired to the point of exhaustion and could hardly keep awake.

Sneed drew his friend aside.

"This will 控訴 us all 権利. I shall get a few hours' sleep, and we are pretty 近づく to Cody's place. I'm afraid we shall have an all-day 開会／開廷／会期 there."

刑事 started violently. He had almost forgotten the horror in his 苦悩 for the girl. 結局 it was agreed that Havelock should go up to town in his car and bring Mrs Lansdown 負かす／撃墜する with him.

The news of her daughter's safety had already been 伝えるd to her, and after the lawyer had left 刑事 went to the village and telephoned to her. She was eager to come at once, but he asked her to wait for Havelock's arrival.

CHAPTER XXVII

THERE WAS much for Sneed to do before he could find the 残り／休憩（する） he so 大いに needed. After a 迅速な breakfast he met the police 長，指導者 of Sussex, and together they モーターd over to Gallows Hill, carrying a 令状 for the 逮捕（する） of the scientist. But the bird had flown, and the house was in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of an 半端物 man who had been 雇うd to do 職業s about the grounds. He had, he said, no knowledge whatever of the doctor or of any other inmate of the house. The man lived in a little cottage about a ４半期/4分の1 of a mile away from the doctor's house, and his story was that he had been awakened 早期に in the morning by Stalletti, who had given him a 重要な and told him to go to Gallows Cottage and stay there until he returned.

A search of the house 明らかにする／漏らすd no fresh （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）. The doctor's bed had not been slept in, and the two beds in the little room were also untenanted.

"It would be a very difficult 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 to 証明する, anyway," said the Sussex officer as they left the house. "Unless you 設立する the pellets in his 所有／入手, you could hardly 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 him with 治めるing dangerous 麻薬s. And even then you'd have to 証明する they were dangerous. They may have been a sedative. You say that the young lady met this man in peculiar circumstances, and while she was in a very nervous 明言する／公表する?"

"She met him, to be exact," said Sneed sarcastically, "in a tomb in the bowels of the earth at two o'clock in the morning, which, I 服従させる／提出する, are circumstances which incline a young lady to feel a trifle on the nervous 味方する?"

"In the Selford tomb? You didn't tell me that," said the Sussex man resentfully. For there is, between Scotland Yard and the 地方の police, a 確かな 量 of 摩擦, which it would be ungenerous to ascribe to jealousy and untruthful to explain 同様に-設立するd.

Until midday Sneed was at the Weald House, in 協議 with the officer who had been called in from Scotland Yard to take 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of the 事例／患者.

"No, there are no 示すs on the woman. She died from fright—at least, that is the doctor's opinion," said the Yard man. "The other fellow was beaten to death. I've searched the orchard, it is 簡単に littered with spent 爆撃するs from an (a)自動的な／(n)自動拳銃 ピストル. How do you account for that?"

Sneed told him of the fusillade which had met them when they 試みる／企てるd to 追求する the unknown trespasser.

"We 設立する eighteen empty cartridge 事例／患者s; there are probably another one or two knocking about which we 港／避難所't 選ぶd up yet," said the Scotland Yard man. "Can you account for the ladder which we 設立する against the house?"

Sneed explained that 現象 in a few words.

"Humph!" said the Yard man. "It is queer about Cody. He's on the 登録（する）."

"Don't use those American 表現s," said Sneed testily, and the Yard man grinned, for he had spent two years in New York and had 追加するd to the vocabulary of police （警察，軍隊などの）本部.

"Anyway, he's in the 記録，記録的な／記録するs Office. He was 罪人／有罪を宣告するd twenty-five years ago of 得るing money by 誤った pretences in the 指名する of Bertram; he was one of the first individuals in England to run a correspondence school, and he caught some unfortunate person for a thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs on the pretence that he could teach him the art of hypnotism. He and a fellow Stalletti were in it, but Stalletti got away—"

"Stalletti?" Sneed looked at him open-mouthed. "That Italian doctor?"

"He's the fellow," nodded 視察官 Wilson. "If you remember, our people caught Stalletti for vivisecting without a licence, but that was a few years later. He is a clever devil, Stalletti."

"'Clever' is not the word," said Sneed grimly. "But it is news to me that they were 熟知させるd."

"熟知させるd! Stalletti （機の）カム here twice a week. I've been talking to some of the servants, who were given a holiday last night and told not to come 支援する until ten o'clock this morning. There was something dirty going on here and Cody 手配中の，お尋ね者 them out of the way."

Sneed took his 手渡す and shook it solemnly.

"You've got the making of a 探偵，刑事 in you," he said. "I discovered that before I went into the house last night!"

As he was going:

"By the way, ツバメ has been here. He （機の）カム to retrieve his car. He's driven it flat into Horsham to get new tyres and he 手配中の，お尋ね者 me to ask you to wait for him."

Sneed strolled 負かす／撃墜する to the 宿泊する gates and had not long to wait when 刑事's machine （機の）カム 飛行機で行くing along the road.

"Jump in; I'm going to Selford," said ツバメ. "Mrs Lansdown arrived half an hour ago. Did you find Stalletti?"

"No. That bird is doing a little quick 飛行機で行くing—and he's wise!"

"I didn't 推定する／予想する he would wait for you."

"Did you know he was a friend of Cody's?" asked Sneed.

He was a little annoyed when his （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） failed to produce the sensation he had 心配するd. 刑事 ツバメ knew this and more.

"Oh, yes. Old and tried friends—but not by the same 陪審／陪審員団. I'd give a lot of money to have Stalletti's 重要な!"

"His what?"

"His 重要な," repeated 刑事, dodging 一連の会議、交渉／完成する a 農業者's cart and 辛うじて escaping 破壊 from a speedster coming from the other direction. "He has the fifth 重要な; Lord Selford has probably the sixth; and X, the 広大な／多数の／重要な unknown, has the seventh. I'm not やめる sure about Lord Selford," he went on, and the other listened 雷鳴-stricken. "But if I'd got to Cape Town four or five days before I did, I should have known for sure."

"Is Selford in this?" 需要・要求するd Sneed.

"Very much in it," was the reply, "but not やめる so much as Stalletti. 許す me 存在 mysterious, Sneed, but nature ーするつもりであるd me to be a writer of mystery stories, and I like いつかs to escape from the humdrum of 探偵，刑事 調査 into the realms of romance."

"Where is Cawler?"

"The Lord knows!" said 刑事 cheerfully. "My first idea was that he was 責任がある the 殺人s, but maybe I'm wrong. He hated his aunt —that, by the way, was Mrs Cody—but I don't think he hated her 井戸／弁護士席 enough to commit wilful 殺人. He was certainly very good to Sybil Lansdown."

Sneed grinned. "Which goes a long way with you, 刑事."

"さらに先に than you could see," 認める 刑事 shamelessly.

Mrs Lansdown was not 明白な when they arrived. She had gone up to the room where her daughter was sleeping and had not come 負かす／撃墜する, Mr Havelock told them. "Have you arranged to get the police 負かす／撃墜する?" he asked.

"There will be a dozen hard-eating men ４半期/4分の1d in this kitchen tonight," said Sneed good-humouredly. Mr Havelock put 負かす／撃墜する the 調書をとる／予約する he had been reading, and rising, stretched himself painfully.

"I'm worried sick. I'll 自白する that to you. Captain Sneed," he said. "Our friend ツバメ thinks I am romancing, but I can tell you that I shall be a very relieved man this time tomorrow morning."

He strode up and 負かす／撃墜する the room, his 手渡すs behind him, his high forehead wrinkled in a frown.

"Lord Selford is not in London," he said without 予選. "At any 率, he is not at the Ritz-Carlton. They have not seen him and know nothing about him."

"Has he ever stayed at the Ritz-Carlton?" asked 刑事 quickly.

"No—that is the 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の thing about it. I asked that very question. It was on an impulse that I stopped as I was passing this morning. You will remember that I have had several letters from him on Ritz-Carlton paper?"

刑事 nodded. "But he has never stayed there; I could have told you that," he said. "Have you ever sent money to him there?"

"Yes," said the lawyer すぐに. "About two years ago he rang me up on the telephone. I 認めるd his 発言する／表明する the moment he spoke. He said he was going to Scotland to fish and asked me if I would send him some American money—a very, かなりの sum—to the hotel."

"How much?"

"Twenty thousand dollars," said Havelock. "I didn't like it."

"Did you ask him to see you?"

"I didn't ask him, I begged him. In fact," he 自白するd, "I 脅すd to 辞職する my trusteeship unless he （機の）カム in to see me or 許すd me to see him; just about then I was getting a little nervous."

"What did he say?"

Mr Havelock shrugged his 幅の広い shoulders. "He laughed. He has a peculiar, weak, giggling sort of laugh that I remember ever since he was a boy. It is inimitable, and is the one sure proof to me that the 疑問s I had 個人として entertained had no 創立／基礎."

"Did you send the money?"

"I had to," said Mr Havelock in a トン of despair. "After all, I was 単に a servant of the 広い地所, and he moves so 速く as to 許す of no 延期する in 派遣（する）ing. It was then I began to think of sending somebody to '選ぶ him up'—that is the police 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語, isn't it?"

刑事 thought for a while. "Tell me one thing: when he called you up last night, did he tell you where he was speaking from?"

"I knew," was the reply. "It was from a call office. The 操作者 invariably tells you when a call office is coming through. The strange thing is that only a few days ago he was 報告（する）／憶測d at Damascus. We have been working out the times, and we have 結論するd that by 飛行機で行くing to Constantinople and catching the Oriental 表明する, he could have reached London half an hour before he telephoned me."

The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Mrs Lansdown, who had come from her daughter. Sybil's mother looked worn, but there was happiness in the tired 注目する，もくろむs, which told of the 救済 she had experienced after the most terrible night of 緊張する and 苦悩.

"I don't understand what it is all about," she said, "but thank God my little girl is 安全な. Have you 設立する the chauffeur?"

"Cawler? No, he has not been seen since Sybil left him."

"You don't think anything has happened?" she asked nervously.

"I don't know. I shouldn't think so," replied 刑事 with a 安心させるing smile. "Cawler is やめる able to look after himself, and I don't 疑問 that if there was a fight he （機の）カム off best."

Later in the afternoon there arrived その上の news of Stalletti. He had been seen by a village constable soon after he had 誘発するd his 雇うd man. 明らかに Stalletti had a small car which he was in the habit of 運動ing about the neighbourhood, and the cycling constable had seen him スピード違反 in the direction of London.

'スピード違反' is hardly the 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 that could be 適切に 適用するd, for the machine did thirty miles an hour with difficulty and had the habit of going dead for no ascertainable 原因（となる）. Stalletti was looking wild and agitated and was talking to himself; he was cranking the car when the constable （機の）カム up with him, and the policeman thought he had been drinking, for he seemed to be abnormally excited and scarcely noticed the advent of the cyclist.

"That 耐えるs out to a large extent my theory," said 刑事. "Stalletti is a devil, but a shrewd devil. He knows that the sands are running out, and with him, as with Cody, it is a 事例／患者 of sauve qui peut."

He managed to get a few hours' sleep, and in the evening he made a careful 調査する of the house, 特に of the sleeping ４半期/4分の1s which had been 割り当てるd to the party. The upper 床に打ち倒す was reached by a 幅の広い carved staircase, Elizabethan in design and 死刑執行, which 終結させるd at a 幅の広い oblong 上陸, from which ran the two 回廊（地帯）s into which the bedrooms opened. There were eight 大規模な doors, four on each 味方する. The 回廊（地帯） was lighted by long windows which looked 負かす／撃墜する into a 中庭, formed by two wings of the building. In one of these was a self-含む／封じ込めるd 控訴, which had been the late Lord Selford's 私的な apartments, and in which, in point of fact, he had died. The other wing had been 変えるd into servants' ４半期/4分の1s. There were no apartments above, the bedrooms 存在 極端に lofty and running up to within a few feet of the roof. 直面するing the stairs was the '明言する／公表する Apartment', as it was called, which had once been the 主要な／長／主犯 bedroom of the house, and this had been 割り当てるd to Sybil and her mother.

CHAPTER XXVIII

WHILST THE ladies were walking in the park after tea, 刑事 went from room to room and made a very 徹底的な examination of windows and 塀で囲むs. He had procured a 建設業者's tape 手段, and, with the 援助 of one of the police officers who had arrived from London, he 手段d the room both inside and out, and compared his 人物／姿／数字s with those he 得るd from the two apartments which 側面に位置するd the 明言する／公表する 議会. The difference was so slight as to 妨げる any 可能性 of there 存在 a secret passage between the 塀で囲むs. These, as is usual in the Elizabethan buildings, were very 厚い and seemed solid enough.

The 明言する／公表する apartment was a large room, rather overpoweringly furnished, with an old-fashioned four-poster bed 始める，決める upon a 演壇. The 塀で囲むs were hung with tapestries; a few old pieces of furniture 構成するd its contents, and had the 床に打ち倒す been covered with 急ぐs it might have stood for an Elizabethan bedroom without one modern touch.

He pulled aside the long velvet curtains that hid the windows and saw that they were very ひどく 閉めだした, and called up the 管理人.

"Yes, sir, these are the only windows in the house that have 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s," said the man. "The late Lord Selford had them put in after a 押し込み強盗. You see, the porch is just below, and it is 平易な to get into the 明言する／公表する room."

刑事 pulled open the leaded windows and 診察するd the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s closely. They were 堅固に 直す／買収する，八百長をするd and 始める，決める so の近くに that it was impossible for any but a child to squeeze through. As he was shutting the windows, Sneed （機の）カム into the room.

"The ladies are sleeping here, aren't they?" asked the stout man, and nodded his 是認 of the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s. "They'll be 安全な enough. I'll have a man in the 回廊（地帯） all night, one in the hall, and two in the grounds. 本人自身で, I'm not worried about trouble coming tonight unless his lordship brings it with him. What time is he 推定する／予想するd?"

"Between six and seven in the morning," said 刑事, and Captain Sneed grunted his satisfaction.

There was one other part of the house that 刑事 ツバメ was anxious to see, and here the 管理人 was his guide. There was, he learned, a 範囲 of cellars running half the width of the main 封鎖する. These were reached through an 地下組織の kitchen, one section was 始める，決める aside as a ワイン cellar and was, he 設立する, 井戸／弁護士席 在庫／株d. There were no lights here save those which he carried, and, unlike many other cellars of these Elizabethan houses, the roof was not 丸天井d. 広大な／多数の／重要な oaken beams ran across the cellar, and these supported 激しい 木造の slats, 黒人／ボイコット with age.

Apart from the ワイン cellar, this 地下組織の 部分 of Selford Manor was empty except for three large beer バーレル／樽s, which had arrived only a few days before. He tapped them one by one, and on an excuse sent the 管理人 upstairs. 刑事's sense of smell was 異常な, and when he 匂いをかぐd it was not the smell of beer that reached his nostrils.

Looking 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, he saw in a dark corner a small 事例／患者 opener. It was very new. Climbing the steps, he の近くにd and bolted the door, and, returning to the バーレル／樽s, prised open the end of one. The ガス／煙s now became overpowering. Dipping in his 手渡す he ran his fingers through the glistening white flakes and grinned. Then, 取って代わるing the lid, he went up the steps.

This 査察 満足させるd 刑事 on many points. He went up to the hall and, passing to the 支援する of the building, took his car and drove 負かす／撃墜する to the 宿泊する gates, returning on foot, not by the 運動, but through the 農園 which 国境d the eastern 部分 of the 広い地所.

The hour of 危機 was at 手渡す. He felt that the atmosphere was electric, and this night would settle, one way or the other, the mystery of Lord Selford's long 見えなくなる.

Before dinner he had an 適切な時期 of a talk with the girl. They strode up and 負かす／撃墜する the 幅の広い lawn before the house.

"Oh, yes, I slept," she said with a smile. And then, 突然に: "Mr ツバメ, I have given you an awful lot of trouble."

"Me?" He was genuinely surprised. "I can't see that you have given me more trouble than other people," he went on lamely. "You have certainly 原因（となる）d me a lot of 苦悩, but that is only natural."

There was a pause.

"Do you feel that way about all your 事例／患者s?" she asked, not looking at him.

"This isn't a 事例／患者—Sybil," he said, a little huskily. "I have a personal 利益／興味 here. Your safety means more to me than anything else in the world."

She 発射 one quick ちらりと見ること at him.

"And am I 安全な now?" she asked, and when he did not reply: "Why are we staying here tonight?"

"Mr Havelock thinks—" he began.

"Mr Havelock is 脅すd," she said 静かに. "He believes that whoever these terrible people are, he has been chosen as the next 犠牲者."

"Of whom is he afraid?" asked 刑事.

"Of Stalletti," she shuddered. He looked at her in amazement.

"Why do you say that? Mr Havelock has told you?"

She nodded. "Men will say things to women that they will never 自白する to men," she said. "Do you know that Mr Havelock believes that Lord Selford is 完全に under Stalletti's 影響（力）? And, what is more, he thinks that—but he will tell you himself. Do you know why we are staying at Selford Manor?"

"I only know about a message that （機の）カム to Havelock," said 刑事.

"We're staying here because it is a 要塞—the only 要塞 which can keep this horrible man at bay. Why I am 含むd in the 招待, I don't know. But Mr Havelock is very insistent upon the point. Lord Selford cannot かもしれない be 利益／興味d in me."

"He is your cousin," he said 意味ありげに, and she 星／主役にするd at him.

"What does that mean?"

"It means," 刑事 spoke slowly, "and this thought has only occurred to me recently, that, if Lord Selford dies, you are the heiress-at-法律."

She was speechless with astonishment. "But that isn't so, surely? Mr Havelock hinted to me that Selford had probably married. And I'm a very distant relation." He nodded.

"The only relation," he said; "and now you will understand just why you have been 脅すd. You told me Mr Cody had 申し込む／申し出d you a paper to 調印する. There is no 疑問 at all that that paper was either some 行為 of gift or a will. Cody was in the Selford 商売／仕事 up to his neck."

"But where is Lord Selford?"

"I don't know," he replied 簡単に. "I can only guess—and 恐れる."

Her 注目する，もくろむs opened wide. "You don't mean—he's dead?" she gasped.

"He may be. I'm not sure. Perhaps it would be better if he were."

Mr Havelock was approaching him, trouble on his rugged 直面する, a frown of perplexity making a furrow in his forehead.

"What time do you 推定する／予想する Selford to arrive?" asked 刑事.

The lawyer shook his 長，率いる.

"If he arrives at all I shall be a happy man," he said. "For the moment I have not any 広大な／多数の／重要な hope, only a vague 肉親，親類d of 逮捕. What news will the morning bring to us? I'd give my small fortune to be a day older than I am. There is no news, I suppose, about Stalletti?"

"非，不，無," said 刑事. "The police are looking for him, and he will find it difficult to escape."

The 管理人 （機の）カム out at that moment to 発表する that a meal had been got ready, and they went into the library, where it had been served.

The dinner, for which the 管理人 and his wife were 平等に apologetic, was of the simplest order. They dined on 冷淡な viands, of a 質 in 半端物 contrast to the ワイン which （機の）カム up from the cellar. After the meal was over, 刑事 took the girl into the rose garden at the 支援する of the house, and for a long time Mrs Lansdown watched them pacing up and 負かす／撃墜する the gravelled walk, 深い in earnest conversation.

Presently the girl （機の）カム in alone and spoke to her mother, and the two of them returned to where 刑事 ツバメ was pacing the path, his 手渡すs behind him, his chin on his breast.

When he at last appeared on the lawn before the house, he 設立する Mr Havelock and Sneed were discussing the disposition of the Scotland Yard men. It was growing dark, the light showed in the window of a distant cottage. 刑事 looked up at the sky. 不明瞭 would 落ちる in an hour; after that—

"Who is going for a walk to the tombs?" he asked.

Mr Havelock did not receive the suggestion with enthusiasm. "It is too dark," he said nervously. "And we can't leave these people alone in the house."

"Our men will look after them," said 刑事. "Anyway, they have gone to bed. Mrs Lansdown sent her excuses."

"I think they're やめる 安全な," said Mr Havelock, looking up at the 閉めだした windows. "I 自白する that as time goes on I am かなり doubtful as to the 知恵 of spending the night in this wretched place. I suppose—" He hesitated and laughed. "I was going to do a very 臆病な／卑劣な thing and 示唆する that I should go home. As I am the only person who need stay, that idea would hardly 控訴，上告 to you gentlemen. The truth is," he said 率直に, "I'm nervous—horribly nervous! I feel as if there is some fearful 影をつくる／尾行する lurking in every bush, a 恐ろしい 形態／調整 behind every clump of trees."

"We'll not go to the tombs," said 刑事, "but we will go as far as the valley. There are one or two things I would like to ask you; the topography here is not very familiar to me and you may help me."

The three men went through the farmyard, and 刑事 stopped only to pat the chained watch-dog who had served Sybil Lansdown so 井戸／弁護士席. So they passed into what he had come to call 'the valley'.

The sky was （疑いを）晴らす; the sun had gone 負かす／撃墜する, but it was light enough to see even distant 反対するs. And here, as they strolled, Mr Havelock learned for the first time of the secret behind Lew Pheeney's death.

"But this is amazing!" he said in astonishment. "There was nothing in the newspapers about his having been asked to 選ぶ a lock—of course, it was the lock of the Selford tomb!"

"The （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） that doesn't come out at 検死s would fill 行方不明になる Lansdown's library," said Sneed. "Maybe it will all come out some day."

They walked on in silence for a long time. Evidently Mr Havelock was cogitating this news.

"I wish I had known before," he said 結局. "I might have been able to give you a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 of 援助. I suppose he didn't tell you who was his 雇用者?"

刑事 shook his 長，率いる. "No, but we can guess."

"Stalletti?" asked Havelock quickly.

"I should imagine so. I can't think of anybody else."

They stopped at the place where the struggle had occurred between Tom Cawler and the Awful Thing, and 刑事 turned slowly 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and 一連の会議、交渉／完成する until his 注目する，もくろむs had roved the 十分な circle of the 見解（をとる）.

"What is that place?" He pointed to a white scar showing above a grassy 山の尾根.

"Those are the Selford Quarries," said the lawyer; "they are not worked today and 代表する a 義務／負債. We have had to の近くに the road above them."

刑事 thought for a moment. "You don't feel like coming on to the tombs?" he asked, 隠すing a smile.

"I certainly do not," cried Mr Havelock with energy. "There's nothing in the world I wish to do いっそう少なく than to go poking 一連の会議、交渉／完成する that 恐ろしい place at this hour of the night! Shall we return?"

They walked 支援する to the house; here the two Scotland Yard men who were on guard outside the house 報告（する）／憶測d that Mrs Lansdown had opened the window of her room and had asked if she could be called at six in the morning.

"Let us go inside," said Havelock; "we shall 乱す them with our 発言する／表明するs."

They went 支援する to the dining-hall and Havelock ordered up a quart of rare シャンペン酒. The 手渡す that raised the glass to his lips trembled a little. The 緊張する, he 認める, was beginning to tell upon him.

"Whatever happens, I am through with the Selford 広い地所 from tonight," he said; "and if this wretched young man does turn up—and I very much 疑問 whether he will keep his 任命—I shall 手渡す him over my 信用 with the greatest 救済."

"In which room are you sleeping?" asked 刑事.

"I have chosen one of the wing rooms that 直面するs up the 回廊（地帯）. It is part of the 控訴 which the late Lord Selford 占領するd, and is by far the most comfortable. Though I'm not so sure it is the safest, because I'm rather 孤立するd. I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 示唆する that you have a man in the 回廊（地帯）."

"I've already arranged that," said Sneed, putting 負かす／撃墜する his glass and smacking his lips with relish. "That's good ワイン. I don't think I have tasted anything better."

"Could you drink another 瓶／封じ込める?" said Mr Havelock hopefully, and Sneed chuckled.

"You want an excuse to open another 瓶／封じ込める, Mr Havelock!" he （刑事）被告. "And I'll give it to you!"

Under the 影響（力） of the second 瓶／封じ込める of ワイン the lawyer became more his normal self.

"The 事柄 is still a 絡まる to me," he said. "What Cody had to do with Selford, or in what manner this wretched Italian—"

"Greek," said Sneed 静かに. "He calls himself Italian, but he's of Greek origin; I've 設立するd that fact. As to their 関係, I'll tell you something." He 倍のd his 武器 on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and leaned across. "You remember sending Lord Selford to school?" he said slowly.

"To a 私的な school—yes." Mr Havelock was patently astonished at the question.

"Do you remember the 指名する of the schoolmaster?"

Havelock frowned. "I think I do," he said slowly. "Mr Bertram."

"He used to be Bertram, but later he took the 指名する of Cody," said Sneed, and the other man's jaw dropped.

"Cody?" he said incredulously. "Do you mean to say that Cody and Bertram, Selford's 教える, are one and the same person?"

It was 刑事 who answered. "And now let me ask you a question, Mr Havelock. When this boy was やめる young, had he a nurse?"

"Why, of course," replied Havelock.

"Do you remember her 指名する?"

Again the lawyer searched his memory.

"I can't be sure, but I have an idea it was Crowther or some such 指名する.

"Cawler?" 示唆するd 刑事.

"Yes, I think it was." The lawyer thought a while. "I'm 確かな it was. The 指名する is familiar to me. I've heard of some other person called Cawler. Of course, Cody's chauffeur!"

"She was Cawler's aunt," said 刑事. "初めは she was a nurse in the 雇う of the late Lord Selford, and she had 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of the boy. Does it strike you as 重要な that Cody should marry this uneducated and uncouth woman?"

There was a 深い silence.

"How did you find this out?"

"By an examination of Cody's papers. Whoever 殺人d that wretched man carried away all the 文書s that were in his desk. But they omitted to search a box in which Mrs Cody kept her 私的な treasures. Probably they thought she was not the type of woman who would keep any 私的な correspondence; but the letters we 設立する leave no 疑問 at all that she was Lord Selford's nurse, and that Cody was his 教える. You've never seen Cody?" Havelock shook his 長，率いる.

"Are you also aware," said 刑事 slowly, "that Stalletti was, on two occasions, called in to Selford Manor in his capacity as a 医療の man to 扱う／治療する Lord Selford for alcoholism?"

"You amaze me!" gasped the lawyer. "Selford's doctor was Sir John Finton. I never knew that he had a 地元の man. When did you learn all this?"

刑事 looked at Sneed, who took out his pocket-事例／患者, selected a paper, and passed it across to the lawyer. It was the paper 刑事 had 設立する in the box.

"But in what way do these 影響する／感情 the 現在の Lord Selford and his wanderings?" asked Havelock in a トン of wonder. "The thing is inexplicable! The more （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） I get on this 支配する, the more obscure the whole 事件／事情／状勢 seems to be!"

"Lord Selford will tell us that in the morning," said 刑事 briskly and looked at his watch. "And now I think we'll go to bed. I am a very tired man."

Sneed dragged himself from the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and flopped into a 深い 議長，司会を務める before the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, which had been lighted in their absence.

"This is my pitch, and it is going to take a good man to get me out of it!"

CHAPTER XXIX

IT WAS half past ten when 刑事 and the lawyer went upstairs to their rooms, and after he had seen Mr Havelock 安全に in his 控訴 and had heard the 重要な turned, he went into his own apartment, shut and locked the door, and lit a candle.

He waited ten minutes and then, noiselessly 打ち明けるing the door, he stepped out into the 回廊（地帯）. The 探偵，刑事 on 義務 saluted him silently as he took out the 重要な and relocked the door from the outside. Then he passed 負かす／撃墜する the stairs and into the hall, where Sneed was waiting for him. Without a word, 刑事 unfastened the door of the room in which Sybil had seen the strange apparition, and they went in together.

The blinds here had been drawn by the 管理人; one of these, at the さらに先に end of the room, 刑事 raised and pulled 支援する the curtain.

"Wait in the hall, Sneed, and don't so much as cough until I shout. We may have to wait till daylight, but it's an even break that the man with the 耐えるd will come 支援する."

Noiselessly he passed through the dark night and, climbing up to one of the raised flowerbeds, he took up a position where he could see the 内部の of the room. His theory might very 井戸／弁護士席 be absurd; on the other 手渡す, it might 証明する to be the keystone of the 解答 he had 建設するd.

Time passed slowly, but he did not move, his 直面する against the window-pane, his 注目する，もくろむs 星／主役にするing into the 不明瞭 of the room. Far away in the still night he heard a church clock strike midnight, and, after an eternity, the half-hour. He began to think that his night was wasted, when suddenly, 近づく the fireplace, there appeared on the 床に打ち倒す a long, thin line of light. 持つ／拘留するing his breath, he waited. The line broadened. And then, by the faint 照明 供給するd, he saw the big hearthstone turn on a pivot, and a 長，率いる appeared above the 床に打ち倒す level.

It was a dreadful 直面する he saw. The 星／主役にするing 注目する，もくろむs, the straggling, ragged 耐えるd, the 抱擁する naked arm that 残り／休憩（する）d for a second on the 辛勝する／優位 of the 床に打ち倒す, were monstrously unreal. The Thing placed the candle he had been 持つ／拘留するing on the 床に打ち倒す, and without an 成果／努力 drew himself up until he was （疑いを）晴らす of the 炭坑，オーケストラ席 from which he had climbed.

Except for a pair of ragged short breeches he was naked. 刑事 gazed, spellbound, as the 巨大（な） crouched and reached 負かす／撃墜する a 手渡す. And then another 抱擁する form （機の）カム up, and the second of the monstrous 存在s appeared.

He was taller than the first. His 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 直面する was expressionless, and, unlike his companion, his 肌 was smooth, his 長，率いる almost shaven.

刑事 星／主役にするd and felt his heart （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing faster. For the first time in his life he was really afraid. Shading the candle with his 抱擁する 手渡す, the first of the men moved stealthily along the panelled 塀で囲む, the second, a taller 人物／姿／数字, crouching behind him. The man with the candle was feeling the panelling.

And then something happened.

刑事 設立する it hard to 抑える a cry of astonishment as he saw one of the パネル盤s swing open, 明らかにする／漏らすing the 直面する of a small cupboard. The bearded thing took something out and showed it to the other, and their 長，率いるs were almost together as they seemed to gloat over their 発見.

And then, even from when he was standing, he heard somebody 動揺させる on the door of the room, and 悪口を言う／悪態d the bungling man who had interrupted this amazing 会議／協議会.

For, as the door shook, the light went out. 刑事 flew along the 石／投石する path into the hall, and saw Sneed, his 手渡す on the door.

"Somebody's in there," said the fat man.

"If you'd only waited a second!" hissed 刑事 furiously, as he 打ち明けるd the door and flung it open.

The room was empty when they turned on the lights.

"Look!" said Sneed, pointing to the panelled door.

"I've already seen that."

簡潔に and a little cantankerously, he 述べるd what he had seen.

He 推定する／予想するd to find that the パネル盤 隠すd a 安全な of some 肉親，親類d, and he was amazed when he discovered that it was no more than a big 木造の cupboard filled with what seemed to be an accumulation of rubbish. He pulled out the contents and put them on the 床に打ち倒す. There was an old 木造の horse with a broken 脚; a gaily painted India rubber ball; a few children's skittles; and part of a clockwork train, the engine of which was 行方不明の.

With the 援助 of Sneed, he tried to turn the hearthstone, but it was immovable.

"Stay here," said 刑事, and ran out of the room through the hall into the grounds.

The dog yapped its 猛烈な／残忍な 警告s as he crossed the farmyard, but a muttered word quietened him. He took a short-削減（する）, 丸天井ing the low 塀で囲む, and reached the valley, stopping now and again to look 一連の会議、交渉／完成する in search of something.

Then he began a wide 回路・連盟 of the valley, keeping as far as possible from 観察, and it was nearly an hour before he began the 法外な ascent to the 支持を得ようと努めるd in which the tombs were 隠すd. 刑事 moved 慎重に, choosing every footfall, listening at every step; but it was not until he was nearly （疑いを）晴らす of the 支持を得ようと努めるd that he heard the sound of crooning 発言する／表明するs.

There was a familiar lilt to the tune; a memory that took him 支援する nearly thirty years—it was the sound of children singing.

Nearer and nearer he crept, slipping from tree to tree, his senses taut. The sweat was running 負かす／撃墜する his 直面する; he had to take out his handkerchief and wipe his 注目する，もくろむs before he could see. He passed from one tree to another until at last he reached the cover of a 巨大（な） elm, and from there he looked out upon the moonlit （疑いを）晴らすing.

The gate of the tomb was wide open, but this he did not see for some time. All his attention was concentrated upon the three men who, 手渡す in 手渡す, were moving 一連の会議、交渉／完成する in a circle, two treble 発言する／表明するs and a 深い, unmusical bass, singing as they solemnly walked:

"Poor Jinny is a-weeping, Poor Jinny is a-weeping..."

His heart almost stopped （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing at the sight. It was like a bad dream; and yet there was something so pathetic in the sight that he felt the 涙／ほころびs rising to his 注目する，もくろむs.

The two half-naked 人物／姿／数字s he 認めるd 即時に. The third little man he could not すぐに place, till he turned his unshaven 直面する に向かって the moon. It was Tom Cawler!

Then of a sudden the song 中止するd, and they squatted 負かす／撃墜する on the ground and passed something from 手渡す to 手渡す. Presently 刑事 saw what it was—a clockwork locomotive! The two half-nude men chuckled over it delightedly, uttering childish, unintelligible sounds, whilst Tom Cawler 星／主役にするd straight ahead, his 直面する 始める，決める, his 注目する，もくろむs open wide, till it seemed to the 選挙立会人 that he was the most terrible of the three.

The interruption which （機の）カム was startling in its unexpectedness. A soft whistle （機の）カム from the 支持を得ようと努めるd so の近くに at 手渡す that 刑事 jumped 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. Its 影響 upon the group was 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の. The two 巨大（な）s （機の）カム up to their feet, cringing away from the sound, and when 刑事 looked again, Tom Cawler had disappeared.

Again the whistle, and the two 広大な／多数の／重要な 形態／調整s crouched 負かす／撃墜する, and even from that distance 刑事 saw that they were trembling violently. The sound of a breaking twig, and a man stepped into the （疑いを）晴らすing.

It was Stalletti.

In one 手渡す he held a whirling dog-whip, in the other the moon gleamed on something 有望な and 悪意のある.

"Ah! so, my little children, I have 設立する you, in what strange circumstances! 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の and bizarre, is it not? Come, Beppo."

The 攻撃する curled above their 長，率いるs as the bigger man crouched lower to the earth.

"Come, you!"

He said something in Greek, which 刑事 could not understand, and すぐに the two 抱擁する 形態／調整s shuffled after him and passed into the 支持を得ようと努めるd. Still 刑事 did not move. Where was Cawler? He had 消えるd as into the ground. And then suddenly the 探偵，刑事 saw him, moving 速く in the 影をつくる／尾行する of the trees, に引き続いて the course which Stalletti and his slaves had taken. In another instant 刑事 was on their heels.

For a moment he had been paralysed by the fantastic sight, but now the （一定の）期間 was broken. Whatever happened, Stalletti should not escape. He did not see Cawler, but knew that he was somewhere ahead in the 不明瞭, moving, as 刑事 had moved, from tree to tree, silently, ominously, for the unconscious man who by some mischance had failed to see him.

They did not follow the 法外な path 負かす／撃墜する to the valley, but went along the slope. The 探偵，刑事, who had not 調査するd the 支持を得ようと努めるd, wondered where the chase would end. Once, as the trees thinned, he saw the two cowering 人物／姿／数字s に引き続いて Stalletti, but they were lost to 見解（をとる） again, and he did not sight them until he heard the 厳しい purr of a モーター engine, and dashed 今後. He was too late. There was some sort of road here, of which he knew nothing, and the car was moving along this. As he looked he saw a 人物／姿／数字 shoot out of the bushes and 支配する the 支援する of the machine.

Now he 位置を示すd the road; it was that which ran over the 最高の，を越す of Selford Quarry. He saw the white gash of the chalk cliff in the moonlight as he flew along in 追跡 of the car. The road was bad, he guessed, and they could not make any 広大な／多数の／重要な 速度(を上げる）, and 刑事 ツバメ was something of a 走者.

The rough roadway began to climb, and this gave him an 付加 advantage, for, ひどく laden—more ひどく than Stalletti at the wheel imagined—the machine slowed perceptibly, and he was 伸び（る）ing を引き渡す 手渡す, when he saw the man that was hanging on to the 支援する suddenly pull himself over the hood.

What followed he could only guess. There was a 叫び声をあげる from Stalletti, and suddenly the car lurched violently to the left and broke through a clump of bushes. For a second there was silence, and then a horrible 衝突，墜落. 刑事 ran to the 辛勝する／優位 of the quarry and saw the car 宙返り／暴落するing over and over 負かす／撃墜する the almost precipitous slope. 負かす／撃墜する, 負かす／撃墜する, 負かす／撃墜する it went, into the 深い, still pool in which the moon was 反映するd.

CHAPTER XXX

DICK LOOKED 一連の会議、交渉／完成する for a 安全な way to the 底（に届く）, and presently was clambering 負かす／撃墜する a 事業／計画（する）ing shoulder of the hill. He reached the 辛勝する／優位 of the lake as a 人物／姿／数字 （機の）カム wading 岸に, blubbering and sobbing in grief and fury. 刑事 掴むd him by the shoulder and swung him 一連の会議、交渉／完成する.

"Cawler!" he said.

"My God! My God! He's dead!" sobbed the chauffeur. "Both of 'em! And that swine! I せねばならない have killed him first!"

"Where are they?"

The man pointed with a shaking 手渡す to a small triangular 反対する in the centre of the lake.

"The car turned over. I tried to pull him out," he wailed. "If I'd only killed him that night I 設立する what they'd done! Do something, Mr ツバメ." He gripped 刑事 frenziedly. "Save him. I don't care what happens to me. Perhaps we could get the car turned over?"

Without a word, 刑事 threw off his coat and waded into the shallow water, followed by the half-demented Cawler. At the first 試みる／企てる he realized that the 仕事 was impossible; in turning, the machine had wedged itself under a 事業／計画（する）ing 激しく揺する. He dived 負かす／撃墜する and sought to pull （疑いを）晴らす the 抱擁する creature his 手渡す touched; and all the time Tom Cawler was sobbing his fury and anguish.

"If I'd only killed him when I 設立する out! That night I listened at the window when Cody was there. I killed him tonight. You can take me for it, if you like, ツバメ. I 粉砕するd in his 長，率いる with a spanner."

"Who killed Cody?"

"My brother killed him. God! I'm glad of it! He killed him because Stalletti told him to."

"Your brother?" said 刑事, hardly believing the 証拠 of his ears.

"My brother—the big fellow," sobbed the man. "Stalletti 実験d on him first, before he took the other boy."

It needed all 刑事's strength to drag to safety this man, half mad with 悲しみ and 悔恨. Leaving him at the 辛勝する／優位 of the lake, ツバメ began to work his way 支援する to the valley. No 援助 he could procure could 救助（する） the three men who were pinned 負かす／撃墜する beneath the car, but he must make some 試みる／企てる.

As he 機動力のある the slope に向かって the farm he heard a police whistle blow shrilly, and almost すぐに there （機の）カム a strange red glow from behind the trees. 刑事 threw away the coat he was carrying and sprinted, but before he could reach the farmyard 塀で囲む he saw the red 炎上s leaping up to the sky.

Again the police whistle shrilled. And now, as he turned the corner of the farm buildings, 刑事 ツバメ saw...

Selford Manor was 燃えて from one end to the other. Red and white tongues of 炎上 were leaping from each window. The lawn was as 有望な as though day had 夜明けd.

Mr Havelock, an overcoat over his pyjamas, was running up and 負かす／撃墜する frenziedly. "Save the women!" he raved. "Can't you 軍隊 those 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s and get them out?"

Captain Sneed stood apathetically by. He was more than apathetic, he was callous. He was smoking his big 麻薬を吸う with a solemn 無関心／冷淡.

"The women, I tell you!" 叫び声をあげるd Havelock, waving his 手渡すs to the 閉めだした windows of the 明言する／公表する room, from which the 炎上s were now roaring.

刑事's 手渡す fell on his arm.

"You needn't worry, Mr Havelock," he said 静かに. "Neither Mrs Lansdown nor her daughter is in the house."

The lawyer 星／主役にするd 一連の会議、交渉／完成する at him.

"Not in the house?" he gasped.

"I sent them to London much earlier in the evening—in fact, when we were searching the valley a few hours ago," said 刑事, and nodded to his companion.

Mr Sneed took his 麻薬を吸う from his mouth, knocked out the ashes, and became 即時に a competent police 公式の／役人.

"Your 指名する is Arthur Elwood Havelock, and I am 長，指導者 視察官 John Sneed of Scotland Yard. I shall take you into 保護／拘留 on a 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of 殺人 and incitement to 殺人, and I 警告を与える you that what you now say may be taken 負かす／撃墜する and used in 証拠 against you at your 裁判，公判."

Havelock opened his mouth to speak, but only a hoarse groan escaped him. And then, as another 探偵，刑事 caught him by the arm, he 崩壊（する）d in an unconscious heap on the ground.

They carried him 負かす／撃墜する to the porter's 宿泊する, and began their search. About his neck was a thin steel chain, and to this were 大（公）使館員d what 刑事 推定する／予想するd to see—two 重要なs of peculiar design. Under the 刺激 of a glass of brandy, Mr Havelock had 回復するd, and he was a very indignant man.

"This is the most monstrous 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 that has ever been concocted," he said violently. "For the life of me, I can't understand what you mean by such a disgraceful—"

"Spare us your eloquence, Mr Havelock," said 刑事 coldly. "It will save you a lot of trouble when I tell you that I have known, from the day I saw a 確かな photograph in Cape Town, that my chase of Lord Selford was a 偽の 組織するd by you to 静める 疑惑. Probably somebody else had been 問い合わせing as to the どの辺に of Selford, and you thought it would be an excellent proof of your bona fides if you sent a fully 育てる／巣立つd 探偵，刑事 to 追跡（する） him 負かす／撃墜する. And, having arrived at this 決定／判定勝ち（する）, you, with the 黙認 of Cody, sent his chauffeur, Tom Cawler, to 行為／法令／行動する as hare to my hounds. I happen to know that Cawler was your messenger, because he incautiously showed himself on the balcony of a Cape Town hotel and was snapped by a 圧力（をかける） photographer. I 認めるd him at once, and from that moment I have been 個人として engaged in discovering the mystery of Lord Selford's 運命／宿命."

The lawyer swallowed hard, and then, in a quivering 発言する／表明する: "I'll 収容する／認める that I have 行為／法令／行動するd very foolishly in regard to Selford. He was of a weak intellect, and I placed him in the care of a doctor—"

"You gave him to Stalletti for his damnable 実験s!" said 刑事 厳しく. "And ーするために 実験（する） whether Stalletti's method would be successful, you 手渡すd over another child—the 甥 of Mrs Cody, and brother of Tom Cawler. I have just come from the man. He 認めるd his brother that night he defended Sybil Lansdown, and, calling him by an old pet 指名する they used as children, awakened in the poor soul a memory of the past. For that 罪，犯罪 alone, Havelock, you shall go to the scaffold! Not for the 殺人 of Cody, which you superintended; not for 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing Selford Manor—you sent those three バーレル／樽s of naphthalene which I 設立する—but for the 殺人，大当り of two human souls!"

The white-直面するd man licked his lips.

"You will have to 証明する—" he began.

And then, unconsciously, his 手渡す 逸脱するd to his neck. When he 設立する the chain had gone, beads of perspiration rolled 負かす／撃墜する his pallid 直面する. He made two 試みる／企てるs to say something, and again dropped into the 武器 of the attendant 探偵，刑事s.

CHAPTER XXXI

"SEVEN KEYS," said 刑事, as, in the 早期に light of the morning, they walked に向かって the tombs. "Cody had one; Silva, the gardener, had one; Mrs Cody had another; Havelock, 存在 the 長，指導者 conspirator, had two. By the way, have they got Stalletti out of the lake? He has the sixth, and if I am not mistaken you will find the seventh hanging 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the neck of Cawler's brother."

They had to wait an hour in the 支持を得ようと努めるd until the 救助（する） party had done their work. The sun was rising as they put two dripping wet 重要なs into 刑事's 手渡す.

"And these make seven," he said.

負かす／撃墜する to the tomb they went. The door of one of the little chapels was wide open, and 刑事 stopped to flash his lamp inside. He threw a light on a square 穴を開ける in one corner of the grim apartment.

"There is a subterranean passage that leads under the hill and 終結させるs beneath the fireplace of what used to be, in poor little Selford's days, the playroom of the Manor. It is probably the only part of the house that the poor fellow remembered. The three men have been hiding here since the night Stalletti made his last 試みる／企てる on the tomb. He had Selford with him, but, in the haste of his escape, he left his 犠牲者 behind.

"Why did Selford visit the room?" asked Sneed in surprise.

"The poor creature 手配中の，お尋ね者 his toys—that is all. These two half-mad creatures were mentally children. They had only children's amusements and children's 恐れるs—that was the 持つ／拘留する Stalletti had on them."

The two men stood in silence before the grim door of the big tomb, while 刑事 fitted and turned 重要な after 重要な. The seventh lock snicked 支援する, and as he pulled the 激しい door swung slowly open.

He was the first into the 議会, and made for the 石／投石する casket. 解除するing the 激しい lid carefully, he 始める，決める it 負かす／撃墜する. Within the casket was a small steel box, and this he took out.

A careful 調査する of the 独房 明らかにする／漏らすd nothing その上の, and they brought the box into the 有望な sunlight, locked the tomb, and walked 支援する past the still smoking 廃虚s of Selford Manor to the 宿泊する. Havelock had been 除去するd to Horsham, and already the 地元の police were on the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す and were making 調査s into the 悲劇 of the lake.

The steel box took some time to open, but presently the lid was 軍隊d 支援する and 刑事 除去するd a roll which 証明するd to be a school 演習 調書をとる／予約する, every page of which was filled with の近くに 令状ing.

"This is in Cody's 手渡す. He was evidently the scribe," said Sneed, when he 診察するd the 調書をとる／予約する. "Read it, ツバメ."

刑事 settled 負かす／撃墜する in a 議長，司会を務める and began the curious story of the Door with Seven Locks.

CHAPTER XXXII

'THIS STATEMENT is written by Henry Colston Bertram, 一般的に called Bertram Cody, with the knowledge, 是認, and 協定 of those persons whose 署名s appear hereunder. It was agreed on the night of March 4th in the year 1901 that such a 声明 should be put into 令状ing, so that, in the event of 発見, no one of these 加盟国s aforesaid should be regarded as 存在 いっそう少なく 巻き込むd than the others, and その上の, to 妨げる any one of the said 加盟国s from turning 明言する／公表する 証拠 at the expense of the others.

'Gregory, Viscount Selford, died on the 14th November before the date this narrative was agreed upon. He was a man of 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の character, and it was his 意向, as he confided to his lawyer, Mr Arthur Havelock, that his 所有物／資産／財産 should be 変えるd into gold and should be laid in the tomb which was 占領するd by the 創立者 of the Selford family, and in which Lord Selford designed that he should also be buried. And in order that his money should not come into the 所有／入手 of his son until he was 25, he ーするつもりであるd that this money should be placed in the 丸天井 with him, which was to be fastened by a door with seven locks, one 重要な 存在 given to each of seven executors. The old door with seven locks was accordingly taken 負かす／撃墜する and a new door, a faithful copy of the first, was ordered from the 会社／堅い of Rizini, of Milan. Lord Selford's 計画／陰謀 was 明白に impossible of 死刑執行 in 見解（をとる） of the 法律s of succession, but although this fact was pointed out to him, he 固執するd in his design. He confided his 計画（する）s, not only to Havelock, but also to Dr Antonio Stalletti, who was 井戸／弁護士席 liked by him, and a たびたび（訪れる） 訪問者 to Selford Manor.

'Three weeks before Lord Selford's death, when he was 苦しむing from an attack of delirium tremens, and in a very nervous 明言する／公表する, Mr Havelock went to him and told him that he was on the 瀬戸際 of 破産, that he had used some of his （弁護士の）依頼人s' money, 含むing Lord Selford's, and asked his lordship if he would save him from a 起訴. The sum 伴う／関わるd was not a very large one—&続けざまに猛撃する;27,000; but Lord Selford was not the 肉親，親類d of man who would 許す such a 違反 of 信用.

'He fell into a 激怒（する）, 脅すing Havelock that he would 学校／設ける a 起訴, and, as a result of his fury, he 苦しむd a 一打／打撃 and was carried to bed unconscious. Dr Stalletti was すぐに called in, and with the help of Elizabeth Cawler, the nurse of Lord Selford's young son, he 回復するd 十分に to repeat, in the presence of Dr Stalletti, the 告訴，告発 he had made against Havelock, the 状況／情勢 becoming その上の 複雑にするd by the fact that Silva, a Portuguese gardener, was in the room, having been called in with the idea of 補助装置ing the doctor to 抑制する his 患者 in his 暴力／激しさ.

'すぐに afterwards Lord Selford had a 崩壊（する）, from which he did not 回復する, and he died on November 14th, there 存在 現在の at his death Dr Stalletti, Mrs Cawler, and Havelock. The writer of this 公式文書，認める did not appear till a much later period, and at the time was ignorant of the circumstances, but he hereby agrees that he was 平等に 有罪の with all the other 加盟国s.

'Lord Selford had not time to change his will, by which he left Havelock his 単独の executor. It was Dr Stalletti (who by his 署名 attests) who 示唆するd that nothing should be said about the circumstances …に出席するing his lordship's death, or about the 声明s he made just 事前の. To this Mr Havelock agreed (as he 証言するs by his 署名) and a 計画（する） was formed whereby Havelock should 治める the 広い地所, the 本体，大部分／ばら積みの of the 歳入s 存在 divided 平等に between the four people who were privy to his lordship's 告訴，告発. The gardener, Silva, was then called in to the 会議／協議会, and as he was a poor man and hated his lordship, who was a ready man with his 茎 if anything annoyed him, Silva agreed.

'It was at that time the 意向 of the four conspirators to 濃厚にする themselves to a 穏健な extent from the 広い地所 during the period of Mr Havelock's 行政, and to leave it to Havelock, when the time （機の）カム that he would be compelled to を引き渡す his 信用 to the new Lord Selford, to straighten 事柄s out. Young Lord Selford, however, was a boy of delicate 憲法 and weak intellect; and very little time elapsed before it became （疑いを）晴らす that an 予期しない danger would 直面する the four. Mr Havelock pointed out that, if this boy was noticeably deficient, the Commissioners in Lunacy might be 通知するd and 任命する another trustee to 治める the 広い地所; and it was then decided to find a 私的な school where the boy could be kept out of sight.

'The choice fell upon the writer, who had had the misfortune to be punished by the 法律s of the country for 得るing money by misrepresentation. I was approached by Mr Havelock soon after I （機の）カム out of 刑務所，拘置所, and was told by him that he was 後見人 of a boy of weak intellect, who, it was necessary, should be 教えるd in a school which had no other scholars. A very handsome sum was 申し込む／申し出d to me, and I 喜んで 受託するd the 地位，任命する and 責任／義務.

'He was brought to me in January, 1902, and I saw at once that any 試みる／企てる to instil education into this unpromising receptacle was foredoomed to 失敗. I had many 協議s with Mr Havelock and Dr Stalletti, who was also in bad odour with the 当局, and it was at one of these 会議／協議会s that Dr Stalletti put 今後 his theory—すなわち, that supposing he had a child in his care of 十分に tender age, he could destroy its 身元, not by any 行為／法令／行動する of cruelty, but by suggestion or by some 肉親，親類d of hypnotism. Dr Stalletti's theory was that, if the 決定的な 軍隊s are inhibited in one direction, they will find 異常な 表現 in another, and it was his 願望（する） to create what he called the perfect man, strong, obedient, having no will of his own, but subservient to the will of another. To this 結論, he said, the biologists of the world were tending, and just as the bee 委任する／代表d its reproductive 機能（する）／行事s to one queen bee, so the time would come when the world would be 居住させるd by unthinking 労働者s, 支配するd by a number of select brains, 後部d and cultured for the 目的 of 演習ing that 当局. He 約束d that he would destroy the 身元 of the young Lord Selford so that, to all 意図s and 目的s, he would 中止する to 存在する as a human 部隊, without 現実に 危うくするing the life and safety of the conspirators, as would be the 事例／患者 if the child were made away with.

'I 自白する I was in favour of this 計画／陰謀, but Mr Havelock was for a long time …に反対するd, because, as he told us, he was not 満足させるd that the 実験 would be a success. Dr Stalletti undertook, if he had a suitable 支配する, to 証明する it within three months; and after we had discussed the 事柄, Mrs Cawler said she would put at the doctor's 処分 one of her two 甥s. Mrs Cawler herself was childless, but she had the care of two children which had been put in her 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 by her dead brother, who had also left a small sum for their 維持／整備. The child was transferred to Gallows Hill Cottage, and at the end of three months, though I did not see the result of the 実験, Mr Havelock told me that it had been successful and he had agreed to Selford leaving my care.

'I had already begun to draw on the 歳入s of the 広い地所, but thinking that my position might be a 不安定な one if the boy was taken away from me, and if I had no actual proof that others 株d my 有罪の knowledge, I asked that a 合法的な 協定 should be drawn up and とじ込み／提出するd in some place where we could all see it at the same time, but to which nobody else had 接近. I その上の asked that a 声明 in which we all 認める our 株 of 責任／義務 should be kept in a 類似の place. There were long discussions about this. Stalletti was indifferent, Havelock was worried, and it was Mrs Cawler who 示唆するd the 計画（する） which we 結局 followed.

'I have told you that a tomb had been 用意が出来ている for Lord Selford. It was that which had once been 占領するd by the 創立者 of the house, and the door was ordered but was not in place when he died. He was, in point of fact, buried in 丸天井 6, the first on the left as you enter the tombs. Havelock すぐに jumped at the idea. He had received the 重要なs from the 製造者s; the door had been hung; and there was, in the tomb itself, a place where such a 文書 could be kept. We agreed 結局 that it should take the 形態／調整 which now appears.

'It was difficult to explain to Silva, who had a small knowledge of English but a 広大な／多数の／重要な 基金 of low cunning, that we were not trying to 罪を負わせる him to save ourselves. But, fortunately, I had acquired in my student days a knowledge of the Portuguese language, and was able, as will be seen herewith, to make a literal translation of this 声明, which will be 設立する on the final ten pages of the 調書をとる／予約する and which has been 調印するd by us all.

'At the moment of 令状ing. Lord Selford is "under tuition" at Gallows Hill, and from my own 観察 it seems that, both in the 事例／患者 of Mrs Cawler's 甥 and in that of Lord Selford, the 実験 has been 高度に successful. Already these boys come and go at the doctor's wish, make no （民事の）告訴, and can 耐える even the rigours of a 厳しい winter with the lightest 着せる／賦与するs without any 明らかな 不快. Since this first line was written, I have married Mrs Cawler, such an 協定 commending itself to Havelock and Stalletti...'

(The next few words were half obliterated by a savage 黒人／ボイコット line that had been drawn through them, but 刑事 managed to decipher: '...although I had other 計画（する）s for my 未来, I agreed.')

'It is 極端に ありそうもない that our 計画／陰謀 will ever be （悪事，秘密などを）発見するd. The Selfords are without 親族s, the nearest 相続人 to the 所有物／資産／財産 存在 a distant cousin; but he is a rich man and is ありそうもない to 問い合わせ too closely into the どの辺に of his lordship. Mr Havelock ーするつもりであるs when the boy reaches a maturer age, to 発表する that he has gone abroad on an 広範囲にわたる 小旅行する.

'To the truth of the foregoing we, the undersigned, 始める，決める our 手渡すs.'

Here followed the 署名s, and on the next page began the Portuguese translation of the 文書.

CHAPTER XXXIII

"THE LETTERS that Havelock showed me," said 刑事, as they were 運動ing 支援する to town, "were, of course, written by himself. I discovered that the day he showed me a message that he said he had received that morning from Cairo. It was written in green 署名／調印する, and he had two specks of green 署名／調印する on the tip of his finger. I knew before that that he was 深く，強烈に 伴う／関わるd in this 事例／患者."

"How did Cawler know that the big man was his brother?" asked Sneed. "That puzzles me."

刑事 thought the 事柄 over.

"He may have guessed for a long time," he said. "He's not a bad fellow, Cawler, and I'm not going to repeat the story he told me about the 科学の use of a spanner. At 現在の the '地元のs' think it was 原因（となる）d by the car in its 落ちる, and I see no 推論する／理由 in the world why I should undeceive them."

"Is your young lady's father a very rich man?" asked Sneed innocently, but quailed before 刑事 ツバメ's 注目する，もくろむ.

"Will you get it out of your 長，率いる that 行方不明になる Sybil Lansdown is my 'young lady' in any 尊敬（する）・点 whatever. Although her father was very rich at the time that 文書 was written, he was a poor man when he died."

"The girl will be rich now, though," said Sneed.

"Yes," replied 刑事 すぐに.

He had an uncomfortable feeling that the change in Sybil Lansdown's fortunes made a very かなりの difference to him. He had enough money to be acquitted of any 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of fortune-追跡（する）ing; but, as he argued, a girl with the 巨大な wealth of the Selfords at her 命令（する） might 井戸／弁護士席 hesitate to 限界 the 可能性s of her 未来 by...

"Anyway, I 港／避難所't spoken a word to her about that," he said, unconsciously answering his own thoughts.

But 視察官 Sneed was sleeping 平和的に in a corner of the car and did not reply.

刑事 went home and walked straight into his bedroom and pulled open the door of the bureau where, one grisly night, a silent 人物／姿／数字 had crouched.

"They've got him, Lew," he said 静かに, and の近くにd the door.

For, strange though it may sound, 刑事's heart was hottest against Stalletti for this one 罪，犯罪.

He dressed himself with unusual care, 拒絶するing this cravat and selecting that, changing his shoes twice, and went 支援する, not once, but half a dozen times to his dressing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, there to manipulate a hair 小衝突 with delicate care; and at last, feeling a little hot and uncomfortable, he took a cab and was deposited at the door of 107, Coram Street. Passing up the stairs, he 圧力（をかける）d the bell of the apartment, and almost すぐに it was opened by Sybil; and the look of 救済 in her 直面する when she saw him was a 広大な／多数の／重要な reward.

"Thank God, you're 安全な," she said in a low 発言する／表明する. "I know that something dreadful has happened. I've only seen what was in the 早期に 版s. Mr Havelock is 逮捕（する）d—how terrible!"

He nodded.

"Mother isn't here," she said, and dropped her 注目する，もくろむs. "She thought —she thought—perhaps—you would come, and that you'd like—" She did not finish her 宣告，判決.

"And that I should like to see you alone? I think I should, Sybil," he said 静かに. "Do you know you're a very rich woman?"

She looked at him incredulously.

"Lord Selford is dead. You are the heiress-at-法律," he 明言する／公表するd 簡潔に, and then: "Is it going to make a big difference?"

"How?" she asked.

"I mean"—he was almost tongue-tied—"is it going to make you think 異なって in—the way you think of me?"

"How do I think of you now?" she asked, with a return to her old manner.

He 押し進めるd his fingers through his finely 小衝突d hair.

"I don't know," he 認める lamely. And then a 有望な idea occurred to him. "Would you like me to tell you what I think of you?"

For answer she took him by the arm, led him into the sitting-room and, の近くにing the door, 押し進めるd him gently into a 議長，司会を務める.

"I should, very much," she breathed, and sat on the arm of the 議長，司会を務める expectantly.

THE END

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