Читать книгу The Great Diamond Syndicate; Or, The Hardest Crew on Record онлайн

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“Did the train stop?”

“Yes, sir. It always does. There are usually early birds out. We call them four-o’clockers.”

“Their work in the city begins early?”

“I suppose so.”

“Do you happen to know whether any strangers were about here when the train came in?”

“Yes, sir, I do,” was the reply. “I usually don’t, but this morning a fool couple got under my window there at the back of the house and whispered, and talked, and quarreled, until I was ready to get up and fight.”

“You could not hear what they were saying?”

“I caught a word only now and then. I was too mad to listen quietly.”

“That was a queer place for a conference—under a sleeping-room window,” suggested the detective.

“Oh, they probably thought the house unoccupied during the night. It doesn’t look much like a residence, now, does it?”

The man cocked his head to one side and regarded the little structure, built of plain boards nailed on perpendicularly and battened, with a critical eye.

“But the people who usually come to this station know your habits, don’t they?” asked Nick.