aboratory. After a few minutes of conversation
we excused ourselves and left the hotel.

Craig's air of abstraction was not such as to invite further
questioning, and I left him an hour or so later in the laboratory
surrounded by his microscopes, slides, and innumerable test-tubes which
he had prepared for some exceedingly minute investigation in which his
exact soul delighted.

How late he worked I do not know, for I did not hear him come into our
apartment. But he was up very early, in fact woke me up stirring around
the living room.

I had scarcely completed dressing, while he scanned the morning papers
in a vain hope that some stray news item might shed some light on the
mystery in which we were now involved, when the whirr of our door buzzer
announced that we had an unusually early caller.

Kennedy opened the door and admitted a stranger. He was one of those
well-groomed middle-aged men whose appearance denotes with what care
they seek by every means to retain youth that is fast passing. I could
imagine him calmly calculating even his vices.

"My name is Ames--Ashby Ames," he introduced. "Dr. Leslie, the coroner,
has suggested that I see you."

Ames looked as if he had been traveling all night and had not had a
chance to freshen himself up in his haste.

"I've just heard about that trouble down at my apartment," he continued,
"and, though I had planned a trip for my health to the southern resorts,
I thought it best for me to come right back to New York. It's a beastly
mess."

He had thrown his hat vindictively on the table, though his manner to us
was rather that of one seeking advice. "Why," he stormed, "this affair
is the limit! I rent my apartment to an apparently reputable person. And
what do I find? It is not even a mere scandal. It is worse. The place
is closed and guarded--quarantined, as it were. I can't get back into
my own rooms!"

Kennedy smiled. "I can't blame you for feeling vexed, Mr. Ames," he
soothed, "but I'm sure I don't know what I can do for you more than I am
doing. We are making every effort to clear the thing up--and I have been
on the case, you must remember, less than twelve hours."

"Oh, I've no criticism of you," rejoined Ames, somewhat mollified. "I
didn't come here to criticise. I came only because I thought you might
like to know that I was back in town, and because Dr. Leslie mentioned
your name. No, indeed--no criticism. Only," he added, "now that my
vacation is spoiled