practicalâââ
âHow curious,â smiled Patience. âIt doesnât seem the proper British psychology, somehow.â
The Inspector coughed very loudly. âNow, Patty,â he said in a chiding tone, âDr. Choateâs a busy man, and we canât take up his whole day chinning about something thatâs not our business.â
âOh, now really, Inspectorâââ
âIâm sure itâs a pleasure for an old fossil like Choate,â remarked Mr. Rowe warmly, âto converse with as beautiful a creature as your daughter, Inspectorâââ
A desperate light began to glitter in Thummâs eye. âWhat we really came for, Dr. Choate,â he said, ignoring the young man, âis to find out about Donoghue.â
âDonoghue?â The curator seemed puzzled, and glanced at Rowe, who sat forward with bright eyes. âWhatâs the matter with Donoghue?â
âWhatâs the matter with Donoghue?â growled the Inspector. âWhy, Donoghueâs disappeared, thatâs whatâs the matter with him!â
The young manâs smile faded. âDisappeared?â he said swiftly.
Dr. Choate frowned. âAre you sure, Inspector? I suppose youâre referring to our special guard?â
âSure! Say, didnât you know he hadnât turned up for work this morning?â
âCertainly. But I thought nothing of it.â The curator rose and began to pace the drugget behind his desk. âBurch, our caretaker, did mention something to me this morning about Donoghueâs failure to turn up, but it didnât occur to meââMatter of fact, Rowe, you remember I mentioned it to you. You see, we like him here and give him rather more freedom than he would have in another situation. And then the museumâs being shut down.⦠Whatâs happened? Whatâs the matter, Inspector?â
âWell, as far as we can find out,â replied the Inspector grimly, âhe beat it out of here yesterday afternoon while that party of school-teachers were being shown around and he hasnât been seen since. Hasnât turned up at his boarding-house, didnât keep a date with a friend of his last nightâjust dropped clean out of sight.â
âItâs rather odd, donât you think, Doctor?â murmured Patience.
Gordon Rowe laid his book down very quietly.
âQuite, quite,â said Dr. Choate, who seemed disturbed. âThe party of teachers.⦠They seemed a harmless enough lot, Inspector.â
âWhen youâre a cop as many years as Iâve been,â retorted the Inspector, âyou learn not to depend too much on appearances. I understood it was you who took that bunch around the museum.â
âYes.â
âHow many of them were there, dâye remember?â
âReally, I donât know. Iâm afraid I didnât count, Inspector.â
âYou didnât by any chance,â asked Patience softly, ânotice a middle-aged man with a bushy grey moustache and a bluish sort of hat among them, did you, Doctor?â
âIâve the failing of most shut-ins, Miss Thumm; half the time Iâm unconscious of my surroundings.â
âI did,â said Rowe with a snap of his lean jaws. âBut it was just a glimpse, blast it.â
âToo bad,â said the Inspector sarcastically. âSo you just showed âem around, eh, Doctor?â
âThatâs my crime, Inspector,â replied the curator with a shrug. âWhy do you ask especially after this man in the blue hat, Miss Thumm?â
âBecause the man in the blue hat,â replied Patience, âwas an illegitimate member of the party, Dr. Choate, and because weâve every reason to believe that Donoghueâs disappearance is connected with him in some way.â
âFunny,â muttered young Rowe. âFunny. Intrigue in the museum,
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