"We'll leave the car here;
to flash up to the door in the quiet of the evening would attract more
attention than would be good for us, perhaps."
It was now quite dark, but they found a gate a trifle farther on which
opened readily; and so they proceeded along a walk toward a building
which lay blinking at them with its yellow eyes. A deep-throated dog
scented them from off in the distance and gave tongue. As they drew
near to the institution they heard a man calling to the brute to be
still. A little further on the man himself suddenly appeared from
around the corner of a building with a lantern; he flashed this in
their faces as he said:
"Well, sirs, this is against the rules. We have no visitors except on
Saturdays; and then only within reasonable hours."
"We would like to speak to Dr. Mercer," said Ashton-Kirk.
"Dr. Mercer is at dinner," explained the man with the lantern. "He
don't like it much if he's disturbed at such times."
"We will wait until he has finished; we are in no great hurry."
The man seemed puzzled as to how to act. With the light held aloft so
that not a feature escaped him, he examined them closely. Apparently
he could see nothing with which to find fault; and so he sighed in a
perplexed fashion.
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