That Chinaman had called--found the old man lying in a fit, or possibly
dead--had seen, as was likely, the diamond on the table in the parlour,
the wad of bank-notes lying near, had grabbed the lot--and gone away. It
was a theory--and I am confident yet that it was the correct one. And I
tell you plainly that my concern from that instant was not with Daniel
Multenius, but with the Chinaman! I thought and acted like lightning.
First, I hastily examined Multenius, felt in his pockets, found that there
was nothing there that I wanted and that he was dead. Then I remembered
that on a previous visit of mine he had let me out of his house by a door
at the rear which communicated with a narrow passage running into Market
Street, and without a second's delay, I seized Purvis by the arm and
hurried him out. It was dark enough in that passage--there was not a soul
about--we crossed Market Street, turned to the right, and were in Oxford
and Cambridge Terrace before we paused. My instinct told me that the right
thing to do was to get away from that parlour. And it was not until we
were quite away from it that I realized that I had left my book behind
me!"
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
BAFFLED
Levendale paused at this point of his story, and looked round the circle
of attentive faces.
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