Moreover--I beg of you not to think me rude--your opinions in the
matter have no interest for me."
Ashton-Kirk acknowledged this with a grave nod. The pencil was
instantly at work again.
"As I have said, I expected a visitor; but I will now add that I did
not expect to be here to receive him."
Ashton-Kirk looked swiftly into Locke's face as he read this; the
expression was unmistakable, and the investigator leaped to his feet.
But the mute uttered a strange parrot-like cry--evidently the same
that Edyth heard that night in Christie Place--and Ashton-Kirk saw his
hand go swiftly to a button at one side of the work-bench. Instantly
the investigator paused; once more a gesture bade him be seated.
Slowly he obeyed; and once more Locke began to trace bold characters
upon the stiff paper. This message read:
"You are a wise man. I had arranged everything before you came in, and
had sat down to make an end of it. This button at my hand once started
an electric apparatus; but now it is connected with a quantity of an
explosive--my own invention, and a terrible one. Believe me, one touch
and everything in this building is in fragments."
Ashton-Kirk, when he had finished reading, nodded quietly. Again the
mute began to write.
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