Then he returned
to the writing-table and took up the sealed envelope whose presence
in his bureau was clearly responsible for the singular visitation of
the cowled man and for the coming of the lovely Mlle. Dorian.
The "pibroch of the M'Gregors": He remembered something--something
which, unaccountably, he hitherto had failed to recall: that fearful
wailing in the night--which had heralded the coming of the cowled
man!--or had it been a _signal_ of some kind?
He stared at the envelope blankly, then laid it down and stood looking
for some time at the golden scorpion's tail. Finally, his hands
resting upon the table, he found that almost unconsciously he had
been listening--listening to the dim night sounds of London and to
the vague stirrings within the house.
"_Now_, you are in danger. Before, you were not...."
Could he believe her? If in naught else, in this at least surely she
had been sincere? Stuart started--then laughed grimly.
A clock on the mantel-piece had chimed the half-hour.
CHAPTER VI
THE ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER
Detective-Inspector Dunbar arrived at New Scotland Yard in a veritable
fever of excitement. Jumping out of the cab he ran into the building
and without troubling the man in charge of the lift went straight on
upstairs to his room. He found it to be in darkness and switched on
the green-shaded lamp which was suspended above the table. Its light
revealed a bare apartment having distempered walls severely decorated
by an etching of a former and unbeautiful Commissioner.
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