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"The Riddle of the Frozen Flame"


Slowly the cavalcade wended its way across the rank grass....


CHAPTER XIV
THE SPIN OF THE WHEEL

Merriton stood at the study window, looking out, and pulling at his
cigar with an air of profound meditation. Upon the hearth-rug Doctor
Bartholomew, clad in baggy tweeds, stood tugging at his beard and watched
the man's back with kindly, troubled eyes.
"Don't like it, Nigel, my boy; don't like it at all!" he ejaculated,
suddenly, in his close-clipped fashion. "These detectives are the very
devil to pay. Get 'em in one's house and they're like doctors--including,
of course, my humble self--difficult to get out. Part of the profession,
my boy. But a beastly nuisance. Seems to me I'd rather have the mystery
than the men. Simpler, anyway. And fees, you know, are heavy."
Merriton swung round upon his heel suddenly, his brows like a thunder
cloud.
"I don't care a damn about that," he broke out angrily. "Let 'em take
every penny I've got, so long as they solve the thing! But I can't get
away from it--I just can't.


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