Look here!--I'm stopping at this hotel--will you come in with
me, and we'll just get a quiet corner and talk some? Come right in, then."
He led the way into the hotel, through the hall, and down a corridor from
which several reception rooms opened. Looking into one, a small smoking
lounge, and finding it empty, he ushered them aside. But on the threshold
Zillah paused. Her business instincts were by this time fully aroused. She
felt certain that whoever this stranger might he, he had nothing to do
with the affair in Praed Street, and yet might be able to throw
extraordinary light on it, and she wanted to take a great step towards
clearing it up. She turned to the American.
"Look here!" she said. "I've told you what I'm after, and who I am. This
gentleman is Mr. Andrew Lauriston. Did you read his name in the paper's
account of that inquest?"
The American glanced at Lauriston with some curiosity.
"Sure!" he answered. "The man that found the old gentleman dead."
"Just so," said Zillah. "There are two friends of ours making enquiries on
Mr. Lauriston's behalf at this moment. One of them's my cousin, Mr.
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