Page:Burton Stevenson--The marathon mystery.djvu/344

316 it’s just as well I never met him, or he’d have hypnotised me, too. Come along.”

Simmonds followed meekly. Evidently he felt his indiscretion deeply; though I didn’t think him greatly to blame. Who, to look at him, would have conceived any suspicion of Tremaine? Even yet, I found it difficult to believe him guilty of any crime; this chain which Godfrey had so laboriously forged about him-would it really hold-was it really strong in every link? Or was there some fatal weakness in it, some unsuspected flaw…

Higgins was just shutting the inner doors. He recognized Simmonds at once.

“Hello,” he said; “what’s up now? No more murders, I hope?”

“Do you know whether or not Mr. Tremaine is in his rooms?” asked Godfrey.

“Yes, sir; he went up about an hour ago.”

“You have a key to his door?”

“Yes, sir.”

“We want you to go up with us and open the door.”

“Oh, come!” protested Higgins. “That’s going it pretty strong. What’s Mr. Tremaine done?”

“No matter. There’s no use holding off, Higgins. Simmonds here can place you under arrest and force you to go.”

“Well, see here,” said Higgins, turning a little pale, “if you break in on him like that, there’s apt t’ be some bullets flyin’ around—he’s hot-headed, he is! I wish you’d excuse me. Here’s the key—why can’t you open th’ door yourself?”