"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 019 - The Romanoff Jewels" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

"You are leaving for the Middle West?"
The question came from the lawyer Parker Noyes.

"For Chicago," replied Holtmann. "My train goes at midnight. I must leave here in ample time to stop at
the hotel on the way. I am staying at the Belmar."

"You will have to leave by eleven o'clock," observed Noyes.

Holtmann nodded.

The group broke up as the conversation ended. Only Lamont Cranston remained.

He smiled as Tobias Waddell approached him. He walked to the side of the room with the millionaire,
and the two sat down in chairs that were drawn side by side.

It was there that Parker Noyes joined them. The lawyer, grave and gray-haired, was a man of important
bearing. Both he and Cranston listened to Waddell's talk, but their eyes were not directed toward the
speaker.

Cranston, his clear eyes covering the whole scene, watched Frederick Froman as a footman entered and
delivered a message to the blond-haired man. Froman went from the room, evidently to answer a
telephone call.

Cranston's gaze shifted to Marcus Holtmann. Noyes, however, was observing another individual. He was
intent upon David Tholbin, who was still engaged in ardent conversation with Betty Waddell.

Froman returned. Cranston glanced at his watch. It showed ten minutes of eleven. Cranston turned to
Waddell.

"The telephone?" he questioned. "I have just recalled that I must call the Cobalt Club -"

The millionaire summoned the footman. Then, rising, Waddell conducted Cranston to the door of the
room, and indicated the direction. He instructed the servant to show Mr. Cranston the way. A few
minutes later, Cranston was alone in a small room, speaking into the mouthpiece of a desk telephone.

"Ready, Burbank?" he questioned.

Evidently the reply was an affirmative one, for Cranston continued with instructions.

"Belmar Hotel, eleven thirty," he declared. "Midnight train, Grand Central Station, destination Chicago.
Marsland to cover at hotel as ordered. Vincent to cover at station as ordered."

Lamont Cranston hung up the receiver. He stood motionless in the center of the room, his tall figure
producing a mammoth shadow. Then the splotch of blackness dwindled as he advanced to the door. A
few minutes later, Lamont Cranston was again seated beside Tobias Waddell.

JUST before eleven, Marcus Holtmann came over to say good-by to Tobias Waddell. He shook hands
with Cranston and Noyes; then made his departure.

No one seemed to express a noticeable interest in Holtmann's leaving. The man had stated that he must