CHAPTER XXIV
THE MARKS OF THE BEAST“On the contrary, it is not the room,” said Michael quietly. “The room is at the end of the passage.”
The man hesitated.
“Can’t you believe me?” he asked in an almost affable tone of voice. “What a sceptical chap you are! Now come, Brixan! I don’t want to be bad friends with you. Let’s go down and have a drink and forget our past animosities. I’m feeling rotten——”
“I want to see that room,” said Michael.
“I haven’t the key.”
“Then get it,” said Michael sharply.
Eventually the baronet found a pass-key in his pocket, and, with every sign of reluctance, he opened the door.
“She went away in a bit of a hurry,” he said. “She was taken so ill that I had to get rid of her.”
“If she left here because she was ill she went into an institution of some kind,
