Page:Wadsworth Camp--the gray mask.djvu/13



ARTH, in response to the unforeseen summons, hurried along the hallway and opened the inspector's door. As he faced the rugged figure behind the desk, and gazed into those eyes whose somnolence concealed a perpetual vigil, his heart quickened.

He had been assigned to the detective bureau less than six months. That brief period, however, had revealed a thousand eccentricities of his chief. The pudgy hand beating a tattoo on the table desk, the lips working at each other thirstily, the doubt that slipped from behind the veil of the sleepy eyes, were all like largely printed letters to Garth—letters that spelled delicate work for him, possibly an exceptional danger.

"Where were you going, Garth?"

"Home. That is—"

Garth hesitated and cleared his throat.

"First—I thought I might drop in on Nora for a minute."

With a quick gesture the inspector brushed the 3