Page "mystery" Paragraph 802

Hoag crossed the narrow street, squeezing between parked cars to reach the sidewalk.

From this side he could see farther into the legation's third-story window, but he saw no faces ; ;

the room's occupants were still seated or they had been called into the hallway by an alarmed police captain.

If only the latter were true.

He walked rapidly along the buildings scanning their facades: one was a club -- that was out ; ;

two others he ruled out because all their windows were lighted.

That left three, possibly four, one looking much like the next.

He climbed the steps of the first and opened the door to the vestibule.

He quickly closed it again.

He had assumed that all these buildings had been divided into apartments, but this one, from a glance at the hall furnishings, was obviously still a functioning town house, and its owners were in residence ; ;

that made it doubtful as the hiding place of a man whose plans had to be made in advance.