"Unable to prove an alibi!" I echoed. "But the police have as yet no
knowledge of the affair," I remarked.
"No; I have, however, reported it in another quarter. It's a most
serious matter, for I have suspicion that certain articles have been
abstracted from the laboratory."
"And that means--what?"
"It means, my dear sir, very much more than you ever dream. This is at
once the strangest and the most serious crime that has been committed in
England for half a century. You are a man of action and of honour, Mr.
Holford. Will you become my friend, and assist me in trying to unravel
it?" he asked quickly, bending forward to me in his earnestness.
"Most certainly I will," I replied, fascinated by the amazing story he
had just related, quite regardless of the fact that he was the suspected
assassin.
I wonder whether if I had known into what a vortex of dread, suspicion,
and double-dealing that decision of mine would have led me I would have
so lightly consented to render my help?