"Do you think he'll sleep till morning?"

"He'll sleep nine or ten hours, at least."

"Then _that's_ all right," said Goldberger, and settled back in his
chair again. "But didn't anybody live in this house except that old
man and his daughter? Aren't there any servants?"

"There must be some somewhere about," answered Godfrey, to whom the
question was addressed; "but Lester and I looked through the lower
floor and part of the upper one and didn't find any. There's a bell
there by the door, but nobody answered when I rang. We didn't have
time to go all over the house. We _did_ find one thing, though," he
added, as if by an afterthought.

"What was that?"

"There's an adept in one of the rooms upstairs."

Goldberger sat up and stared at him.

"An adept?" he repeated. "What's that?"

"An expert in mysticism. I judge that Vaughan was his pupil."

"Do you mean he's a Hindu?" asked the coroner, as though that would
explain everything.

But Godfrey was having his revenge.

"I don't know whether he's a Hindu or not," he said, airily. "I didn't
get a very good look at him."

"What was he doing?" Goldberger demanded.

"He was just sitting there."

Again Goldberger stared at him, this time suspiciously.

"But, good heavens, man!" he cried. "That was three or four hours ago!
You don't suppose he's sitting there yet!"

"Yes," said Godfrey drily, "I think he is."

Goldberger's face flushed, and he sprang to his feet impatiently.

"Show me the room," he commanded.

"Glad to," said Godfrey laconically, and led the way out into the
hall.

The whole crowd tailed along after him. As I rose to follow, I saw
that the outside world was turning grey with the approaching dawn.

The nurse, hearing our footsteps on the stairs, looked out in alarm,
and held up a warning finger. Godfrey paused for a word with her.

"How is she?" he asked.

"Sleeping quietly," said the nurse; "but please don't make any more
noise than you can help."

"We won't," Godfrey promised, and crossed the hall to the door leading
into the little entry. Then he paused and looked around at Goldberger.
"Better go slow here," he cautioned. "The adept has a pet cobra."

"A snake?"

"The deadliest snake in the world."

Goldberger drew back a little, as did all the others.

"I don't think it will bite us, though," added Godfrey, cheerfully,
"if we don't crowd it. It's sitting there, too," and he opened the
outer door, passed through, and hel