Page:The Black Camel (IA blackcamel0000earl).djvu/221

If his aim had been to annoy the young woman, he could have found no better means. Her cry of dismay was immediate and heartfelt. “Who did this, Mr. Chan?” she demanded.

Charlie smiled. “Thanks for touching faith in my ability,” he remarked. “But I can not tell you.”

“It was taken out by Mr. Van Horn, the actor. This sort of thing is prohibited by law, you know. You must arrest him at once.”

Chan shrugged. “It was also lying on table from time Mr. Van Horn left it, early to-day, until well past noon. What proof have we that Van Horn mutilated it? I know him well, and I do not think him complete fool.”

“But—but——”

“I will, with your kind permission, speak to him over wire. He may be able to cast little light.”

The young woman led him to the telephone, and Chan got Van Horn at the hotel. He explained at once the condition in which he had found the book.

“What do you know about that!” Van Horn remarked.

“Alas! very little,” Charlie returned. “The volume was in the intact state when you saw it?”

“Absolutely. Perfectly O. K. I left it on the table about nine-thirty and went out.”

“Did you see any one known to you about place?”

“Not a soul. But I say, Inspector, this throws new light on that note I got this morning. Perhaps the intention of my unknown friend was not so much to involve me, as to get that volume out of the files. He—if it was a he—may have hoped that the thing would happen just as it has happened—that I would