The most notable features of a striking face were the
tawny leonine eyes, which could be fierce, which could be pensive and
which were often kindly.
"Good evening, doctor," he said--and his voice was pleasant and
unexpectedly light in tome. "Hope I don't intrude."
"Not at all, Inspector," Stuart assured him.
"Make yourself comfortable in the armchair and fill your pipe."
"Thanks," said Dunbar. "I will." He took out his pipe and reached out
a long arm for the tobacco jar. "I came to see if you could give me a
tip on a matter that has cropped up."
"Something in my line?" asked Stuart, a keen professional look coming
momentarily into his eyes.
"It's supposed to be a poison case, although I can't see it myself,"
answered the detective--to whom Keppel Stuart's unusual knowledge of
poisons had been of service in the past; "but if what I suspect is
true, it's a very big case all the same."
Laying down his pipe, which he had filled but not lighted, Inspector
Dunbar pulled out from the inside pocket of his tweed coat a bulging
note-book and extracted therefrom some small object wrapped up in
tissue paper. Unwrapping this object, he laid it upon the table.
"Tell me what that is, doctor," he said, "and I shall be obliged."
Stuart peered closely at that which lay before him. It was a piece of
curiously shaped gold, cunningly engraved in a most unusual way.
Rather less than an inch in length, it formed a crescent made up of
six oval segments joined one to another, the sixth terminating in a
curled point.
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