But they did not, nor anything to show that he had been near it. Mrs. Campion and the servants were waiting in the hall. When they learned the cause of the delay in their arrival, that Alan Thurston had disappeared, their amazement was unbounded.
On the road where they had left Mr. Sampson and his medical friend another interesting little scene was taking place. The two men waited till the others’ retreating footsteps had died away, then they turned and faced each other, and Mr. Sampson broke into a laugh; a proceeding which his companion criticised with some asperity.
“Stop that row, you fool, they’ll hear you.”
“I couldn’t help laughing, not if I had to die for it the next minute; bar none this is the funniest thing I ever was mixed up in.”
“I’ll be hanged if I see where the joke com
