Edgar Wallace

“ The ironmaster smiled sheepishly. “Nothing, I fear; yet you know, Essley, she is my only child, and I sometimes imagine that she is looking ill. My doctor in Newcastle tells me that there is nothing wrong with her.”
“I see,” said Essley. “Where is she?”
“She is at the theatre,” confessed the father. “You must think I am an awful fool to bring you up to town to discuss the health of a girl who is at the theatre, but something upset her pretty badly last night, and I was to-day glad to see her take enough interest in life to visit a musical comedy.”
“Most fathers are fools,” said the other. ”

“ The ironmaster laughed as he saw him to the door. “You are almost as good a financier as your friend,” he said.
“Almost,” said the doctor dryly.
His waiting taxi dropped him at Charing Cross, and he went straight to the nearest call-office and rang up a Temperance Hotel at Bloomsbury. He had reasons for wishing to meet a Mr. Weld who knew him in Australia. ”

“ Dr. Essley Meets a Man
Dr. Essley was in his study, making a very careful microscopic examination. The room was in darkness save for the light which came from a powerful electric lamp directed to the reflector of the instrument. What he found on the slide was evidently satisfactory, for by and by he removed the strip of glass, threw it into the fire and turned on the lights.
He took up a newspaper cutting from the table and read it. ”

“ He wanted to gain time. The street was empty. A little way down there was a gateway in which a man might lie unobserved until a policeman came.
In his pocket he had an impregnated feather carefully wrapped up in lint and oiled silk. ”