"But you were never in the slightest danger," said Thibault. "And if I may say so, you behaved superbly, rather like you did with Marrok. We never dreamed that Marrok would approach you. We didn,t account for that at all."
"But how long have you been watching exactly?" asked Reuben.
"Well, in a way, since the beginning," said Felix. "Since I picked up the Herald Examiner in Paris and saw Marchent,s death splashed across the front page. As soon as the ,San Francisco Man Wolf, made his debut, I was on a plane."
"Then you never left the country after our meeting at the law offices," said Reuben.
"No. We,ve been close to you ever since. Thibault arrived within hours; then Margon had to cross the Atlantic, and then Vandover and Gorlagon, too. But I,ve been in this house unbeknownst to you. You were quite clever in finding the Inner Sanctum, as we used to call it. But you did not discover the entrance in the cellar. The old obsolete furnace is a hollow aluminum dummy. I,ll show you later. Grasp the right side of the lower portion of it, bring it towards you, and you will open a door to which it is attached. There is a sanctuary of rooms there, all electrically lighted and heated, and then a stairs down to a narrow tunnel which runs to the west, opening just above the huge rocks at the base of the cliff at the end of the beach."
"I know the place," said Laura. "At least I think I do." She picked up one of the old lace-trimmed linen napkins that lay in a little fan-shaped display near her, near to a plate of fruit and candies, and she dabbed at her eyes with this, and then clenched it tightly in her hand. "I found it on my walks. I couldn,t quite get over those slippery rocks. But I bet I saw the place."
"Very likely you did," said Felix, "and it is very dangerous there, and the tide often pours into the tunnel, flooding it for a hundred yards or more. Best for Morphenkinder and their like, who can swim and climb like dragons."
"And you,ve been down there in the cement rooms behind the cellar," said Reuben.
"Yes, most of the time, or in the nearby woods. Of course we followed you into Santa Rosa to see Stuart. We knew at once what had happened. We followed you when you went in search of him. If you hadn,t rescued him, we would have intervened. But you were handling things beautifully, as we suspected you would."
"The man wolf," said Laura, "who broke into the house tonight, this is one of the men in the library picture?"
"It was Sergei," said Thibault with a smile in his deep flowing baritone voice. "We vied for the privilege, but Sergei was adamant. And Frank Vandover is with Sergei now, of course. Dr. Klopov held us prisoner for ten years. Klopov murdered one of us. This night provided considerable satisfaction for us all."
"They,ll be back tomorrow," said Felix. "What they are doing right now is establishing a path south for the Man Wolf. They,ll arrange an unimpeachable sighting in Mexico before morning. When they return, I,m hoping you,ll receive them, that we can all, with your permission, sleep under this roof."
"This is your house," said Reuben. "Think of me as a custodian."
"No, dear boy," said Felix, saying it exactly the way Marchent had so often said it, "it,s your house. Most definitely it is your house. But we will accept your invitation."
"Absolutely," said Reuben, "for now and forever and whenever and wherever you like."
"I,ll take my old rooms, if you don,t mind," said Felix, "and Margon has always been comfortable in one of the smaller rooms along the north side facing the woods. We will put Thibault in one of the southern rooms, just next to Stuart, if this is agreeable to you, and Frank and Sergei will sleep on the northeast end in those corner rooms above the oaks."
"I,ll go see to things," said Laura, who started to get up.
"My darling, you mustn,t," said Felix. "Please, do sit down. I know for a fact that everything is as comfortable as it ever was. Older, perhaps a little musty, but entirely comfortable. And I want you here, close to us. Surely you want to know what happened, too."
Reuben nodded and murmured his assent to that, holding Laura close again.