"It was between a quarter and half-past nine, sir," answered Mr.
Webster. "It might ha' been twenty past--it might ha' been twenty-five
past."

"Go on, if you please," said Spargo.

"Well, sir, me and this here dead gentleman talked a bit. About what a
long time it took to get a member to attend to you, and such-like. I
made mention of the fact that I hadn't been in there before. 'Neither
have I!' he says, 'I came in out of curiosity,' he says, and then he
laughed, sir--queer-like. And it was just after that that what I'm
going to tell you about happened."

"Tell," commanded Spargo.

"Well, sir, there was a gentleman came along, down this grand hall that
we were sitting in--a tall, handsome gentleman, with a grey beard. He'd
no hat on, and he was carrying a lot of paper and documents in his
hand, so I thought he was happen one of the members. And all of a
sudden this here man at my side, he jumps up with a sort of start and
an exclamation, and----"

Spargo lifted his hand. He looked keenly at his visitor.

"Now, you're absolutely sure about what you heard him exclaim?" he
asked. "Quite sure about it? Because I see you are going to tell us
what he did exclaim."

"I'll tell you naught but what I'm certain of, sir," replied Webster.
"What he said as he jumped up was 'Good God!' he says, sharp-like--and