The Time Lock  (English, Paperback, Walk Charles Edmonds)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III AN EXIT A LEXANDER!" /-% A page hastening cat-footed, after b the manner of all well-trained pages, swerved abruptly from his course and bore down upon the window where the two friends were seated. Van Vechten waved in the direction of Number 1313. "Alexander," he said, "we are going to breakfast, and we want you to hold these two chairs for us. Keep an eye upon that house across the way—thirteen-thirteen. Observe whether anybody departs, or whether anybody arrives, and make careful note of them. If anything unusual happens, come to me immediately in the grill. Understand?" Alexander signified that he understood, and that he was willing to wait and watch—for even the club's servants shared the general interest inthe House of Mystery—and Alexander was already seated in one of the vacated chairs, his eyes glued to the doorway opposite. There were only two other diners in the grill. Van Vechten and Tom sought a secluded corner, where the latter listened in blinking bewilderment to an account of the morning's happenings. But, after all, he was no more mystified than the narrator. He was, however, all at once inspired. "I have it!" he impetuously announced. "Let's hurry and eat—I 'm not. hungry now, anyway. What say to me walking up and ringing the bell at one o'clock?" But Van Vechten's comment was not encouraging. "Crude," was his word. "I fear you will never learn anything beyond squash, yachts and polo ponies. Those men are not wandering blindly into the house; the indications all point to a prearranged meeting. They may be the tenants themselves; some sort of secret society—" "Anarchists!" Tom yelled. A thought had but to enter his head to emerge at his mouth.The other two diners looked up, startled; but perceiving the ...