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Page 42
He stared very hard at Colonel Menendez.
"I have spoken with your butler, known as Pedro, and with some of the
other servants, and have learned all that there is to be learned about
the person unknown who gained admittance to the house a month ago, and
concerning the wing of a bat, found attached to the door more
recently."
"And to what conclusion have you come?" asked Colonel Menendez,
eagerly.
He bent forward, resting his elbows upon his knees, a pose which he
frequently adopted. He was smoking a cigar, but his total absorption in
the topic under discussion was revealed by the fact that from a pocket
in his dinner jacket he had taken out a portion of tobacco, had laid it
in a slip of rice paper, and was busily rolling one of his eternal
cigarettes.
"I might be enabled to come to one," replied Harley, "if you would
answer a very simple question."
"What is this question?"
"It is this--Have you any idea who nailed the bat's wing to your door?"
Colonel Menendez's eyes opened very widely, and his face became more
aquiline than ever.
"You have heard my story, Mr. Harley," he replied, softly. "If I know
the explanation, why do I come to you?"
Paul Harley puffed at his pipe. His expression did not alter in the
slightest.
"I merely wondered if your suspicions tended in the direction of Mr.
Colin Camber," he said.
"Colin Camber!"
As the Colonel spoke the name either I became victim of a strange
delusion or his face was momentarily convulsed. If my senses served me
aright then his pronouncing of the words "Colin Camber" occasioned him
positive agony. He clutched the arms of his chair, striving, I thought,
to retain composure, and in this he succeeded, for when he spoke again
his voice was quite normal.
"Have you any particular reason for your remark, Mr. Harley?"
"I have a reason," replied Paul Harley, "but don't misunderstand me. I
suggest nothing against Mr. Camber. I should be glad, however, to know
if you are acquainted with him?"
"We have never met."
"You possibly know him by repute?"
"I have heard of him, Mr. Harley. But to be perfectly frank, I have
little in common with citizens of the United States."
A note of arrogance, which at times crept into his high, thin voice,
became perceptible now, and the aristocratic, aquiline face looked very
supercilious.
How the conversation would have developed I know not, but at this
moment Pedro entered and delivered a message in Spanish to the Colonel,
whereupon the latter arose and with very profuse apologies begged
permission to leave us for a few moments.
When he had retired:
"I am going upstairs to write a letter, Knox," said Paul Harley. "Carry
on with your old duties to-day, your new ones do not commence until to-
morrow."
With that he laughed and walked out of the dining room, leaving me
wondering whether to be grateful or annoyed. However, it did not take
me long to find my way to the drawing room where the two ladies were
seated side by side upon a settee, Madame's chair having been wheeled
into a corner.
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