Page:William Le Queux - The Czar's Spy.djvu/187

Rh "I only know what Cowan told me," was my uncle's reply. "But do you know him?"

"Not at all. Only I've heard that name before," I said. "I knew a man out in Italy of the same name. But where is the visitor now?"

"In the hospital at Dumfries. They took him. there in preference to leaving him alone at Rannoch."

"Alone?"

"Of course. Every one has left, now the host and hostess have slipped off without saying good-bye. Scandalous affair, isn't it? But, my boy, you'll remember that I always said I didn't like those people. There's something mysterious about them, I feel certain. That telegram gave them warning of the visit of the man Chater, depend upon it, and for some reason they're afraid of him. It would be interesting to know what transpired between the two men in the library. And those are people who've been taken up by everybody — mere adventurers, I should call them!" And old Sir George sniffed again at thought of such scandal happening in the neighbourhood. "If Gilrae must let Rannoch, then why in the name of Fortune don't he let it to respectable folk and not to the first fellow who answers his advertisement in The Field? It's simply disgraceful!"

"Certainly, it is a most extraordinary story," I declared. "Leithcourt evidently wished to escape from his visitor, and that's why he drugged him."

"Why he poisoned him, you mean. Cowan says the fellow is poisoned, but that he'll probably recover. He is already conscious, I hear."