A tall man, quietly dressed, yet wearing a silk hat and an eyeglass, with a pleasant air of authority, came into the shop. For a moment he stood by the door, a rather cool gazed fixed upon the group of four; and then, an odd mingling of alertness and caution in his manner, he advanced to the proprietor.
"May I have a word with you," said the visitor, with an air of apology for the benefit of the others whom he included in a smile which expressed little.
"Certainly you may, Sir Arthur," said S. Gedge Antiques, an odd change coming into his tone. Taken by surprise, the old man had been slow to reckon up the situation. He was not able to detach himself from the group, and lead the rather unwelcome visitor out of earshot before that gentleman had divulged the business which had brought him there.
"You must be anxious about your niece, Mr. Gedge," said Sir Arthur, who saw no need for secrecy.
The old man was very anxious indeed.
"You've heard from the Hospital, of course?"
It seemed that the old man had heard nothing; and Sir Arthur was proceeding to deplore this oversight on the part of those whom he had asked over the telephone to communicate with Number Forty-six, New Cross Street, when William, whose ear had caught the sinister word 'Hospital' could no longer restrain a painful curiosity.
The young man sprang forward with clasped hands
