Page:Yellow Claw 1920.djvu/39

 “Mr. Soames,” he said, “you will be going to your own room and waiting there until I ring for you.”

“Yes, sir,” said Soames, holding his hat in both hands, and speaking huskily. “Yes, sir: certainly, sir.”

He crossed the lobby and disappeared.

“There is no other way out, is there?” inquired the detective, glancing at Dr. Cumberly.

“There is no other way,” was the reply; “but surely you don’t suspect”…

“I would suspect the Archbishop of Westminster,” snapped Dunbar, “if he came in like that! Now, sir,”—he turned to Leroux—“you were alone, here, to-night?”

“Quite alone, Inspector. The truth is, I fear, that my servants take liberties in the absence of my wife.”

“In the absence of your wife? Where is your wife?”

“She is in Paris.”

“Is she a Frenchwoman?”

“No! oh, no! But my wife is a painter, you understand, and—er—I met her in Paris—er—…Must you insist upon these—domestic particulars, Inspector?”

“If Mr. Exel is anxious to turn in,” replied the inspector, “after his no doubt exhausting duties at the House, and if Dr. Cumberly—”

“I have no secrets from Cumberly!” interjected