‘See here,’ said Albert, ’we’d better go on with what we started of now.’

‘Had we?’ Simon questioned somewhat dubiously.

‘Of course,’ said Albert.  ’If that is Ravengar in the photo, and if we can find out anything to-night, and if Ravengar’s in this business’—­he jerked his elbow towards the cylinders—­’we shall be so much to the good.  Besides, it won’t take us a minute.’

So they went forward, through twilit chambers and passages filled with sheeted objects, past miles of counters inhabited by thousands of chairs, through doors whose openings resounded strangely in the vast nocturnal silence of Hugo’s, till they came to the Medical and Pharmaceutical Department.  And the Medical and Pharmaceutical Department, in its night-garb, and illuminated by a single jet at either end of it, seemed to take on a kind of ghostly and scented elegance; it seemed to be a lunar palace of bizarre perfumes and crystal magics.

The two young men halted, and listened, and they could catch the distant footfall of the patrols echoing in some far-off corridor.  That reassured them.  They ceased to fancy the smell of burning and to be victimized by the illusion that a little tongue of flame darted out behind them.

Albert gained access to the accountant’s cupboard, and pulled out a number of books, over which they pored side by side.

‘Here you are!’ exclaimed Simon presently.  ‘Receipts.  January 9.’

And Albert read:  ’No. 6,766, Mrs. Poidevin, 37, Prince’s Gate; vinolia.  No. 6,767, Dr. Woolrich, 23, Horseferry Road; chloroform!  Can’t make out the quantity, but it must be a lot, I should think; the price is eighteen and ninepence.’

‘Dr. Woolrich, 23, Horseferry Road?’ Simon repeated mechanically.  ‘Chloroform?’

‘That’s it,’ said Albert.  ’You may bet your boots.  Let’s look him up in the Medical Directory, if they’ve got one here.  Yes, they’re sure to have one.’

But there was no Dr. Woolrich in the Medical Directory.

Once more the brothers stared at each other.  Was or was not Ravengar alive?  Were they or were they not on his track?

‘Listen, Si,’ said Albert.  ’I’ll drive right down to 23, Horseferry Road, and have a look round.  Eh?  What do you say?’

‘I think I’ll come, too,’ Simon replied.

In six minutes Albert pulled up the hansom at the end of the street, and they walked slowly towards No. 23, but on the opposite side of the road.

‘That’s it,’ said Simon, pointing.  ’What are you going to do now?  Inquire there?’

At the same moment a window opened behind them, in the house immediately facing No. 23; they both heard a hissing sound, evidently designed to attract their attention, and they both turned their heads.

From a first-story window Hugo was gesticulating at them.

CHAPTER XXVI

SECOND TRIUMPH OF SIMON