Wait for me there." Then he hung up.

Turning to Kondo, he ordered his limousine car. Kondo transmitted the
order and brought Warden's coat and cap; then Kondo opened the house
door for him and the door of the limousine, which had been brought
under the porte-cochere. Kondo heard Warden direct the chauffeur to a
drug store near the center of the city; the chauffeur was Patrick
Corboy, a young Irishman who had been in Warden's employ for more than
five years; his faithfulness to Warden was never questioned. Corboy
drove to the place Warden had directed. As they stopped, a young man
of less than medium height, broad-shouldered and wearing a mackintosh,
came to the curb and spoke to Warden. Corboy did not hear the name,
but Warden immediately asked the man into the car; he directed Corboy
to return home. The chauffeur did this, but was obliged on the way to
come to a complete stop several times, as he met streetcars or other
vehicles on intersecting streets.

Almost immediately after Warden had left the house, the door-bell rang
and Kondo answered it. A young man with a quiet and pleasant bearing
inquired for Mr. Warden and said he came by appointment. Kondo ushered
him into the smoking room, where the stranger waited. The Jap did not
announce this arrival to any one, for he had already received his
instructions; but several times in the next half hour he looked in upon
him. The stranger was always sitting where he had seated himself when
Kondo showed him in; he was merely waiting. In about forty minutes,
Corboy drove the car under the porte-cochere again and got down and
opened the door. Kondo had not heard the car at once, and the
chauffeur had not waited for him. There was no motion inside the
limousine. The chauffeur looked in and saw Mr. Warden lying back
quietly against the cushions in the back of the seat; he was alone.

Corboy noticed then that the curtains all about had been pulled down;
he touched the button and turned on the light at the top of the car,
and then he saw that Warden was dead; his cap was off, and the top of
his head had been smashed in by a heavy blow.

The chauffeur drew back, gasping; Kondo, behind him on the steps, cried
out and ran into the house calling for help. Two other servants and
Mrs. Warden, who had remained nervously in her room, ran down. The
stranger who had been waiting, now seen for the first time by Mrs.
Warden, came out from the smoking room to help them. H