After a brief inspection, he entered the shop, and
shortly reappeared carrying a long sword-bayonet and an old Chassepot
rifle.
"What may be the meaning of this martial display?" I asked, as we turned
down Fetter Lane.
"House protection," he replied promptly. "You will agree that a
discharge of musketry, followed by a bayonet charge, would disconcert
the boldest of burglars."
I laughed at the absurd picture thus drawn of the strenuous
house-protector, but nevertheless continued to speculate on the meaning
of my friend's eccentric proceedings, which I felt sure were in some way
related to the murder in Brackenhurst Chambers, though I could not trace
the connection.
After a late lunch, I hurried out to transact such of my business as had
been interrupted by the stirring events of the morning, leaving
Thorndyke busy with a drawing-board, squares, scale, and compasses,
making accurate, scaled drawings from his rough sketches; while Polton,
with the brown-paper parcel in his hand, looked on at him with an air of
anxious expectation.
As I was returning homeward in the evening by way of Mitre Court, I
overtook Mr.
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