He wore huge, disfiguring
spectacles, and he had the protuberant lips of a negro. He
greeted Catherine and the Bishop absently and seemed to have a
grievance against Fenn.
"What is it you want, Nicholas?" he asked impatiently. "I have
some experiments going on in the country and can only spare a
minute."
"The Council has rescinded its instructions with regard to Julian
Orden," Fenn announced, "and is anxious to have him brought before
them at once. As you know, we are for the moment powerless in the
matter. Will you please explain to Miss Abbeway and the Bishop
here just what has been done?"
"It seems a waste of time," Bright replied ill-naturedly, "but
here is the story. Julian Orden left his rooms at a quarter to
six on Thursday evening. He walked down to St. James's Street and
turned into the Park. Just as he passed the side door of
Marlborough House he was attacked by a sudden faintness."
"For which, I suppose," the Bishop interrupted, "you were
responsible."
"I or my deputy," Bright replied. "It doesn't matter which. He
was fortunate enough to be able to hail a passing taxicab and was
driven to my house in Hampstead. He has spent the intervening
period, until three o'clock this afternoon, in a small laboratory
attached to the premises."
"A compulsory stay, I presume?" the Bishop ventured.
"A compulsory stay, arranged for under instructions from the
Council," Bright assented, in his hard, rasping voice. "He has
been most of the time under the influence of some new form of
anaesthetic gas with which I have been experimenting.
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