swarthy individual, who led the way, my bag
in his hand, to my bedroom. The whole place was depressing. Our
dinner was tete-a-tete, and though my host did his best to be
entertaining, his thoughts seemed to continually wander, and he talked
so vaguely and wildly that I could hardly understand him. He
continually drummed his fingers on the table, gnawed his nails, and
gave other signs of nervous impatience. The dinner itself was neither
well served nor well cooked, and the gloomy presence of the taciturn
servant did not help to enliven us. I can assure you that many times
in the course of the evening I wished that I could invent some excuse
which would take me back to Lee.

"One thing comes back to my memory which may have a bearing upon the
business that you two gentlemen are investigating. I thought nothing
of it at the time. Near the end of dinner a note was handed in by the
servant. I noticed that after my host had read it he seemed even more
distrait and strange than before. He gave up all pretence at
conversation and sat, smoking endless cigarettes, lost in his own
thoughts, but he made no remark as to the contents. About eleven I was
glad to go to bed. Some time later Garcia looked in at my door--the
room was dark at the time--and asked me if I had rung. I said that I
had not. He apologized for having disturbed me so late, saying that it
was nearly one o'clock. I dropped off after this and slept soundly all
night.

"And now I come to the amazing part of my tale. When I woke it was
broad daylight. I glanced at my watch, and the time was nearly nine.
I had particularly asked to be called at eight, so I was very much
astonished at this forgetfulness. I sprang up and rang for the
servant. There was no response. I rang again and again, with the same
result. Then I came to the conclusion that the bell was out of order.
I huddled on my clothes and hurried downstairs in an exceedingly bad
temper to order some hot water. You can imagine my surprise when I
found that there was no one there. I shouted in the hall. There was
no answer. Then I ran from room to room. All were deserted. My host
had shown me which was his bedroom the night before, so I knocked at
the door. No reply. I turned the handle and walked in. The room was
empty, and the bed had never been slept in. He had gone with the rest.
The foreign host, the foreign footman, the foreign cook, all had
vanished in the night! That was the e