I was not in the mood to enjoy a joke of this kind--my position was far
too serious--and I left Chelsea in a depressed condition. Perhaps it was
being so personally concerned in the matter which made me especially
critical of Quarles's methods, but it certainly did not seem to me that
his arguments had helped me in the least. They only served to emphasize
how poor our chance was of finding the criminal.
Next afternoon I received a wire from the professor telling me to meet
him at the Yorkshire Grey. I found him waiting there and thought he
looked a little anxious.
"We are going to have a tea-party at a quiet place round the corner in
Gray's Inn Road," he said; "at least Cockran and I are, while you are
going to look on. You are going to be conspicuous by your absence, and
under no circumstances must you attempt to join us. When it is all
over and we have gone, then you can leave your hiding-place and come
to Chelsea."
He would answer no questions as we went to the third-rate tea-rooms, but
he was certainly excited. The woman greeted him as an old friend. He had
evidently been there before.
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