... Merriton Towers!"
He swung upon his heel and quickly retraced his steps, until the little
stone passageway was left behind them, and a few feet ahead loomed up
another of those queer turnings, which led--who knew where?
"We'll take it on chance," said Cleek as they paused, while he marked it
in his chart, "and follow our noses. But I confess I've had a shock. I
never thought--never even dreamt of Merriton Towers being connected with
this smuggling or, whatever it is, Dollops! And if I hadn't been down in
that very kitchen upon a voyage of discovery the other day, I'd have had
more reason to disbelieve the evidence of my own eyes. The light was on,
too. Lucky for us we didn't pop our heads up at the moment when someone
was there. But then the servants are all gone. Borkins is keeping the
house open until after the trial. So it was Borkins who was using that
light, that's pretty obvious; and our necks have been spared by an inch
or two less than I had imagined. We must hurry; time's short, and there's
a good deal to be got through this night, I can tell you!"
"Yessir," said Dollops, not knowing what else to say, for Cleek was
keeping up a sort of running monologue of his ideas of the case.
Pages:
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297