"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 094 - Castle of Doom" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

hesitate - I want the correct address."

Quivering with both fear and rage, Geoffrey scrawled the address and thrust the card into Nigel's hand.
His own face pale, Geoffrey stormed:

"You are the one who should be leaving England. Heed my advice -"

"I never take advice," interposed Nigel. "I give it. Take mine and go to Canada, or else jump into the
Serpentine. You never were a good swimmer, Jeff."

With that, Nigel Chiswold turned on his heel and strode away through the fog; leaving his cousin Geoffrey
white-faced and quivering, like a man who had seen a ghost.

CHAPTER IV. THE HOUSE IN WHITECHAPEL
HARRY VINCENT, in his effort to regain Geoffrey Chiswold's trail, had run into various difficulties. Not
only had he failed to pick up sounds of footsteps along the side street; he had run into an obstructing
block that forced another choice.

A street ran left and right. Neither direction seemed the more likely. Finally, however, Harry had decided
on the left, in the hope that he might regain the corner where he had first lost the trail.

A low-built corner light afforded a chance to locate himself. Harry made in that direction; then paused,
confused. He saw a long, narrow street stretching away into a path of murky gloom; but he could not
decide whether or not it would lead him from this puzzling region. It was while he chided himself upon his
bewilderment that Harry heard the shuffling gait of a walker.

The footsteps were quicker than Geoffrey's; but they bore a resemblance. Harry drew back into a
doorway and waited. A man came into the range of the light, then stopped there. Harry stared
completely amazed.

This was the man who had led him from Geoffrey's trail; the walker in the khaki topcoat. But as the man
paused in the light, Harry caught a complete glimpse of his features. Like the bobby at the Piccadilly
corner, The Shadow's agent mistook Nigel Chiswold for Geoffrey.

Watching, Harry saw Nigel draw a card from his pocket and study it as though memorizing something
written there. Then, with a slight laugh, Nigel tore the card into eight pieces and tossed the bits of
pasteboard to the sidewalk. Turning, he strode off through the fog.

Harry hurried forward. He scooped up the pieces of the card, but made no attempt to put them together.
Instead, he hurried after Nigel. Soon, he was again on the trail of elusive footbeats. Nigel, however,
proved too difficult a quarry.

His speed changed; his footsteps turned a corner, then faded. Following, Harry decided that the man
must have changed his gait. Then he realized that he was following no one. Nigel must have guessed that
he was being trailed and worked the trick of ducking into a doorway.

Harry's only clue was the torn card. Reaching a main thoroughfare, he found a hotel. He went into the
lobby, sat at a writing desk and pieced the card together. It gave him the address of a flat in the Belgravia
section, near Belgrave Square. Harry made a telephone call to The Shadow, at the Acropolis Club. He
was told to investigate further, then report again.