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They walked in silence to the familiar entrance, and then, after the ill-assorted trio had gone up the great staircase and into the first gallery, Mr. Sleuth suddenly stopped short. The presence of those curious, still, waxen figures which suggest so strangely death in life, seemed to surprise and affright him. Daisy took quick advantage of the lodger's hesitation and unease.
And again the three detectives exchanged knowing glances. "Reginald Maltravers' pursuit of you, Lady Agatha, led him to Fairport," went on the great sleuth. "No doubt he met the driver of the vehicle which brought you hither, and learned that you and Elmer had been set down in this neighborhood, just as Miss Pringle learned it.
Plucking up courage, Bunting called out, his voice echoing freshly on the still air: "Mr. Sleuth, sir? Mr. Sleuth!" The lodger stopped and turned round. He had been walking so quickly, and he was in so poor a physical condition, that the sweat was pouring down his face. "Ah! So it's you, Mr. Bunting? I heard footsteps behind me, and I hurried on.
And he comes from " "From my old home, Shelby, North Carolina," says she. "But he isn't the one who's missing, you know." "That's so," says I. "Gettin' off the track, wasn't I? Shows what a poor sleuth I am. And now if I can have the missing man's hat I'll do a little scoutin' round outside." "His hat!" grumbles Zosco. "What do you want with that?"
"Now, my dear doctor, that is the true description of myself, the man whom that shrewd detective was to hunt down. You who are familiar with the history of crime in New York of late should be able to foretell the result. When I promised you to exhibit to your incredulous gaze the sleuth who was set upon me, you laughed at me because you said that detectives and murderers never met in New York.
Before I was through he was grinning at me in a very superior and knowing way. "Nice, bright sleuth, you," commented he, mockingly; "can't you see through a grindstone when there's a hole in it? I shrugged my shoulders; the idea was by no means novel. But it did not make matters any clearer. "It must have been the ruby which he showed Maillot," I insisted.
"Above all, what has puzzled me most in this horrid affair is you, Brendon," declared Giuseppe. "You are a great sleuth, we know; yet you are no better than the rest of us stupid people before these happenings and horrors. That made me wonder for a long time; but now I wonder no longer." "I'm beat and I own it. I've missed something vital the keystone of the arch.
Were they not, after all, the very men, the only men, in fact, to assist him in his dilemma? At least he could test them out. If necessary he would divide the reward with them! Running toward the road Willie shouted to the departing sleuth. The car, moving slowly forward in low, came again to rest. Willie leaped to the running board.
Pudge always insisted that he had known it for mysterious at the first glance. It had a mansard roof and shutters of a sickly green, all closed; there was not a sign of life about, but smoke issued from one of the chimneys. Here was an item potent to raise the sleuth that slumbers in every boy, even in such well-cushioned bosoms as Pudge Sheridan's.
I told you the truth when I said that the cipher letter was an enigma to me. I could not solve the cryptogram, nor will I be the means of bringing it to the hands of those who might solve it. I don't want any further connection with the case; in fact, sir, I want to get out of the sleuth game altogether.
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