The Mission of Poubalov — page 24: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

20 AN EXPLANATION SUGGESTED. ently, asa driver would be likely tosit. Just tryit. I | want you to be satisfied.’’ Paul climbed to the driver’s seat on the coupe, and the stableman leaned over the wheel. ‘*You see,’’ said the latter, ‘‘unless you bent over and looked down sharply you wouldn’t make out what I was up to, and not having any reason to suspect a trick, you’d likely sit still; more likely than not, if you was an ordi- nary driver, you’d look the other way most of the time; and—but I don’t need to talk any longer for here is the nut!’’ and he held up a small wrench in which was the nut of the wheel by which he was standing. ‘*Great Scott!’’ exclaimed Paul, smiling, in spite of his anxiety, at the dexterous way in which the stableman had proved that the trick might have been done, “What sort of man was this, Mike, who talked to you?”’ ‘‘T dunno, sir. Medium sized, young, I should say.”’ ‘*Would you know him again?”’ ‘*T would that!’’ ‘*By the way, did you see anybody call at the house while you were waiting?’’ ‘‘Yes, a gentleman wentin. I heard him ask for Mr. Strobel, and he came out again inside of five minutes,’”’ ‘*What was he like and where did he go?”’ ‘*T couldn’t tell you what he was like. I paid no atten- tion tohim. He went away toward Somerset Street. The fellow at the wheel was talking to me as he went along.”’ This was all the information of value that Paul could obtain, although he asked many more questions. He found Ralph waiting for him in Ivan’s room, and Mrs. White was there, overcome with anxiety on account of the continued absence of her daughter. ‘‘T think,’’ said Ralph when he had heard his friend’s re- port, ‘‘that we’d better speak of this at police headquar- ters.”’ ‘‘Are you going to say anything about Tiazier”’ asked Mrs. White. chooks.com