What do you say, Berkeley ?" "I say that it is time for me to be off; the evening consultations begin at half-past six." "Well," said Thorndyke, "don't let us keep you from your duties, with poor Barnard currant-picking in the Grecian Isles.

But come in and see us again.

Drop in when you like, after your work is done.

You won't be in our way even if we are busy, which we very seldom are after eight o'clock." I thanked Dr.Thorndyke most heartily for making me free of his chambers in this hospitable fashion and took my leave, setting forth homewards by way of Middle Temple Lane and the Embankment; not a very direct route for Fetter Lane, it must be confessed; but our talk had revived my interest in the Bellingham household and put me in a reflective vein.
From the remarkable conversation that I had overheard it was evident that the plot was thickening.

Not that I supposed that these two respectable gentlemen really suspected one another of having made away with the missing man; but still, their unguarded words, spoken in anger, made it clear that each had allowed the thought of sinister possibilities to enter his mind--a dangerous condition that might easily grow into actual suspicion.