I removed a portion of my clothing and lay down on the bed, a certain uneasiness preventing me from undressing entirely.

I was tired, but with little inclination for sleep.

The room was large, the furniture of old style and well worn, the light of the small hand lamp leaving much of the spacious apartment in shadow.

It was not only imagination which kept me wakeful, but the dim suspicion engendered in my mind by what Mrs.Bernard had said below.

Could there be any truth in her questioning of the motives actuating the man who had sent us here?
Had we come--mere pawns in some game of crime--deceived, perhaps betrayed to arrest?
Was Coombs here merely to watch us, and report to Neale and Vail how we carried out our part of the bargain?
The affair certainly looked altogether different now I was upon the ground, although I could figure out no possible object those men could have.