When Nicol Brinn returned to Hillside, he found the garage locked
and the lights extinguished. Standing under a moss-grown wall
which sheltered him from the house, from his case he selected a
long black cigar, lighted it with care and, having his hands
thrust in the pockets of his light overcoat and the cigar
protruding aggressively from the left corner of his mouth, he
moved along to an angle of the wall and stared reflectively at
the silent house.
A mental picture arose of a secret temple in the shadow of the
distant Himalayas. Was it credible that this quiet country house,
so typical of rural England, harboured that same dread secret
which he had believed to be locked away in those Indian hills?
Could he believe that the dark and death-dealing power which he
had seen at work in the East was now centred here, within
telephone-call of London?
The fate of Sir Charles Abingdon and of Paul Harley would seem to
indicate that such was the case. Beyond doubt, the document of
which Rama Dass had spoken was some paper in the possession of
the late Sir Charles. Much that had been mysterious was cleared
up. He wondered why it had not occurred to him from the first
that Sir Charles's inquiry, which he had mentioned to Paul
Harley, respecting Fire-Tongue, had been due to the fact that the
surgeon had seen the secret mark upon his arm after the accident
in the Haymarket. He remembered distinctly that his sleeve had
been torn upon that occasion.
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