Mr. Weiss
stopped short.
"Isn't there any way of getting in without being seen by all this
crowd?" he asked. "They'll worry us to death with questions."
She nodded, and led him round the back way. Even here they were caught,
however, by a reporter, whom Mr. Weiss brushed unceremoniously away.
Virginia took her companion into a morning-room upon the ground floor,
and motioned him to a chair.
"If you will wait here," she said, "I'll go upstairs and see my uncle.
If I see that it is in any way possible, I will do as you ask."
"That's good," he declared. "If you don't mind, Miss Longworth, I'll
just step into the study, where we were last night. I dare say one of
your uncle's young men will be there, and there are a few minor details
I'd like to talk over with young Smedley, if he's about."
"I will find Mr. Smedley for you," Virginia said, "when I come down. I
am sure that he is not in the library, because my uncle uses that always
as his private room. Please wait here until I come down."
She left him and made her way upstairs. The door of her uncle's bedroom
was guarded by his man servant, who allowed her, however, to pass.
Inside the room Phineas Duge was sitting in an easy-chair, carefully
dressed, smoking a cigarette, and with a pile of newspapers by his side.
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