Miss Cornelia and Bailey gave each other a look of wonderment.
“I—leaned against—the button—in the garage—” he went on. “Then—I
think—maybe I—fainted. That’s—not clear.”
His eyelids drooped. He seemed about to faint again.
Dale rose, and came over to him, with a sympathetic movement of her
hand.
“You don’t remember how you were hurt?” she asked gently.
The Unknown stared ahead of him, his eyes filming, as if he were trying
to puzzle it out.
“No,” he said at last. “The first thing I remember—I was in the
garage—tied.” He moved his lips. “I was—gagged—too—that’s—what’s the
matter—with my tongue—now—Then—I got myself—free—and—got out—of a
window—”
Miss Cornelia made a movement to question him further. Beresford
stopped her with his hand uplifted.
“Just a moment, Miss Van Gorder. Anderson ought to know of this.”
He started for the door without perceiving the flash of keen
intelligence and alertness that had lit the Unknown’s countenance for
an instant, as once before, at the mention of the detective’s name. But
just as he reached the door the detective entered.
He halted for a moment, staring at the strange figure of the Unknown.
“A new element in our mystery, Mr. Anderson,” said Miss Cornelia,
remembering that the detective might not have heard of the mysterious
stranger before—as he had been locked in the billiard room when the
latter had made his queer entrance.
The detective and the Unknown gazed at each other for a moment—the
Unknown with his old expression of vacant stupidity.
“Quite dazed, poor fellow,” Miss Cornelia went on. Beresford added
other words of explanation.
“He doesn’t remember what happened to him. Curious, isn’t it?”
The detective still seemed puzzled.
“How did he get into the house?”
“He came through the terrace door some time ago,” answered Miss
Cornelia. “Just before we were locked in.”
Her answer seemed to solve the problem to Anderson’s satisfaction.
“Doesn’t remember anything, eh?” he said dryly. He crossed over to the
mysterious stranger and put his hand under the Unknown’s chin, jerking
his head up roughly.
“Look up here!” he commanded.
The Unknown stared at him for an instant with blank, vacuous eyes. Then
his head dropped back upon his breast again.
“Look up, you—” muttered the detective, jerking his head again. “This
losing your memory stuff doesn’t go down with me!” His eyes bored into
the Unknown’s.
“It doesn’t—go down—very well—with me—either,” said the Unknown weakly,
making no movement of protest against Anderson’s rough handling.
“Did you ever see me before?” demanded the latter. Beresford held the
candle closer so that he might watch the Unknown’s face for any
involuntary movement of betrayal.
But the Unknown made no such movement. He gazed at Anderson, apparently
with the greatest bewilderment, then his eyes cleared, he seemed to be
about to remember who the detective was.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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