“My brother,” he went on, after a perceptible pause, “spent much of his time away, too. He was a great traveller, and filled the house with stuff he brought home from all over the world. The laundry⁠—a small detached building beyond the servants’ quarters⁠—he turned into a regular little museum. The curios and things I have cleared away⁠—they collected dust and were always getting broken⁠—but the laundry house you shall see tomorrow.”

Colonel Wragge spoke with such deliberation and with so many pauses that this beginning took him a long time. But at this point he came to a full stop altogether. Evidently there was something he wished to say that cost him considerable effort. At length he looked up steadily into my companion’s face.

“May I ask you⁠—that is, if you won’t think it strange,” he said, and a sort of hush came over his voice and manner, “whether you have noticed anything at all unusual⁠—anything queer, since you came into the house?”

Dr. Silence answered without a moment’s hesitation.