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"Dr. Trowbridge? Dr. de Grandin?" Our visitor looked questioningly from one of us to the other.
"I'm Trowbridge," I answered, "and this is Dr. de Grandin. What can we do for you?"
The gentle-faced, white-haired little man bowed rather nervously to each of us in turn, acknowledging the introduction. "My name is Gervaise, Howard Gervaise," he replied. "I'm superintendent of the Springville Orphans' Home."
I indicated a chair at the end of the study table and awaited further information.
"I was advised to consult you gentlemen by Mr. Willis Richards, of your city," he continued. "Mr. Richards told me you accomplished some really remarkable results for him at the time his jewelry was stolen, and suggested that you could do more to clear up our present trouble than anyone else. He is president of our board of trustees, you know," he added in explanation.
"U'm?" Jules de Grandin murmured noncommittally as he set fire to a fresh cigarette with the glowing butt of another. "I recall that Monsieur Richards. He figured in the affair of the disembodied hand. Friend Trowbridge, you remember. Parbleu, I also recall that he paid the reward for his jewels' return with very bad grace. You come poorly introduced, my friend"—he fixed his uncompromising cat-stare
