Page:Marsh--The seen and the unseen.djvu/110

86 "You think to escape me when we reach the station. Bah, my friend, I shall disappear, but to return again!"

Still—we should see!

The train stopped The platform was on the opposite side. I made a movement towards the other door. He stood in the way. Unmistakably then he was flesh and blood enough. I could not pass unless I forced him to one side. In my rage I grappled him. For an instant a struggle would have undoubtedly ensued, but in the very nick of time the opposite door was opened. Other passengers came in.

"Thank God!" I cried. "Someone has come at last."

I turned to see who the new-comers were. They were Messrs. Burchell and Armitage. In my surprise I lost my presence of mind again. The stranger stood like a figure of Mephistopheles, and smiled at me. He addressed himself to my late antagonists.

"Well, gentlemen, have you decided to make it a case for the police? I think, if you will take the advice of an unprejudiced onlooker, you would be wise if you did."

This insolence was more than I could stand.

"Gentlemen," I cried, "this—this demon has confessed to me that it was he who did it all." I looked at Mr. Burchell and his friend. They met my troubled glances with what seemed, in my confusion, to be a meaningless stare. The stranger still continued to regard me with his careless smile.

"I am afraid," he murmured, "that you're an old, old hand."