CHAPTER XIIIAfter his activities at Dowgate Wharf and at the hospital, Macdonald decided to leave Mr. Thomas Burroughs in suspense for one more night, and to spend the rest of the evening writing up a report of his case. The Belfry, he heard, had burnt out as thoroughly as a building can, the roof beams having collapsed and set light to the floor. Only the walls and the burnt-out tower remained, with the gargoyles grinning at the angles, the owls having circled round their abode with mournful hoots, and the starlings who had nested in the roof of the hall having sat on adjacent trees and twittered in excited consternation.
A clean sweep, meditated Macdonald; Attleton and Debrette dead, the Belfry nothing but an evil-smelling, gaunt skeleton. Only the supernumeraries remained—Grenville, pr
