She passed silently up the broad staircase. Hamel groped his way across the hall into the library. He turned on the small electric reading-lamp and drew up a chair to the side of the telephone. Even as he lifted the receiver to his ear, he looked around him half apprehensively. It seemed as though every moment he would hear the click of Mr. Fentolin’s chair.
He got the exchange at Norwich without difficulty, and a few minutes later a sleepy reply came from the number he had rung up in London. It was Kinsley’s servant who answered.
“I want to speak to Mr. Kinsley at once upon most important business,” Hamel announced.
“Very sorry, sir,” the man repelled. “Mr. Kinsley left town last night for the country.”
“Where has he gone?” Hamel demanded quickly. “You can tell me. You know who I am; I am Mr. Hamel.”
“Into Norfolk somewhere, sir. He went with several other gentlemen.”
“Can you tell me if any of the people with whom Mr. Kinsley left London were connected with the police?” he inquired.
“I believe so, sir,” he admitted. “The gentlemen started in a motor-car and were going to drive all night.”
Hamel laid down the receiver. At any rate, he would not be left long with this responsibility upon him. He walked out into the hall. The house was still wrapped in deep silence. Then, from somewhere above him, coming down the stairs, he heard the rustle of a woman’s gown. He looked up, and saw Miss Price, fully dressed, coming slowly towards him. She held up her finger and led the way back into the library. She was dressed as neatly as ever, but there was a queer light in her eyes.
“I have seen Mrs. Seymour Fentolin,” she said. “She tells me that you have left Mr. Fentolin and the others in the subterranean room of the Tower.”
“They have Dunster down there,” he told her. “I followed them in; it seemed the best thing to do. I have a friend from London who is on his way down here now with some detective officers, to enquire into the matter of Dunster’s disappearance.”
“Are you going to leave them where they are until these people arrive?” she asked.
“I think so,” he replied, after a moment’s hesitation. “I don’t seem to have had time to consider even what to do. The opportunity came, and I embraced it. There they are, and they won’t dare to do any further harm to Dunster now. Mrs. Fentolin was down in my room, and I thought it best to bring her back first before I even parleyed with them again.”