CHAPTER VII

THE WATCHER IN THE SHADOW


But if Merriton slept, the others of the little party did not. After his
door had closed upon him they appeared from their rooms, and met by
arrangement once more in the study. Doctor Bartholomew--a little late at
having waited and listened for the outward result of his drug in Nigel's
comforting snore--joined the group with an anxious face. There was no
laughter now in the pleasant, heated smoking room. Every face there wore
a look that bordered closely upon fear.

"Well, Doctor," said Tony West, as he entered the room, "what's the plan?
I don't like Wynne's absence, I swear I don't. It--it looks fishy,
somehow. And he was in no mood to play boyish pranks on us by turnin' in
at the Brelliers' place. There's somethin' else afoot. What's your idea,
now?"

The doctor considered a moment.

"Better be getting out and form a search party," he said quietly. "If
nothing turns up--well, Nigel needn't know we've been out. But--there's
more in this than meets the eye, boys. Frankly, I don't like it. Wynne's
a brute, but he never liked practical joking. It's my private opinion
that he would have returned by now--if something hadn't happened to him.
We'll wait till dawn, and then we'll go. Nigel is good for some hours