his eyes were these bleak and empty abysses, like sockets. there was nothing there. the boy i thought i knew so well was gone. he looked so lost sitting there. i felt that old lurch, that gravitational pull, that desire to inhabit him—like wherever he was in this world, i would know where to find him, and i would do it. i would find him and take him home. i would take care of him, just like susannah wanted.
“I am afraid the list is only beginning,” said Carrados. “We must go through your renters’ book.”
The manager roused himself to protest.
“That cannot be done. No one but myself or my deputy ever sees the book. It would be—unprecedented.”
“The circumstances are unprecedented,” replied Carrados.
“If any difficulties are placed in the way of these gentlemen’s investigations, I shall make it my duty to bring the facts before the Home Secretary,” announced the professor; speaking up to the ceiling with the voice of a brazen trumpet.
Carrados raised a deprecating hand.
“May I make a suggestion?” he remarked. “Now; I am blind. If, therefore——?”
“Very well,” acquiesced the manager.