the sound of people alighting. There seemed to be two of them,
men in aquascutums and tweed caps.

Ten minutes later the innkeeper slipped into the room, his eyes
bright with excitement.

'There's two chaps below looking for you,' he whispered.
'They're in the dining-room having whiskies-and-sodas. They asked
about you and said they had hoped to meet you here. Oh! and they
described you jolly well, down to your boots and shirt. I told them
you had been here last night and had gone off on a motor bicycle
this morning, and one of the chaps swore like a navvy.'

I made him tell me what they looked like. One was a dark-eyed
thin fellow with bushy eyebrows, the other was always smiling and
lisped in his talk. Neither was any kind of foreigner; on this my
young friend was positive.

I took a bit of paper and wrote these words in German as if they
were part of a letter--

... 'Black Stone. Scudder had got on to this, but he could not
act for a fortnight. I doubt if I can do any good now, especially
as Karolides is uncertain about his plans. But if Mr T. advises
I will do the best I ...'

I manufactured it rather neatly, so that it looked like a loose page
of a private letter.

'Take this down and say it was found in my bedroom, and ask