about midday
An inquiry whether he had delivered my letter met with the amazing response that they had given him no letter , and when I rushed into the house to ask what had become of it , there it was , on the mantelshelf of the bar-parlour , just where I had left it . Never did a man meet with a worse blow . I knew then that Miss Dolly was done for , and I did not believe that the day could pass and keep the police from Lord Badington 's doorstep . I should tell you that Moss had called at the police station at Sandwich as we drove through , and that a sergeant and a constable came over to the inn on bicycles about midday . Their questioning me helped them a mighty lot , for I contrived to look as foolish as a yokel when you ask him the way to Nowhere ; and all I could tell them was that the lady had come down upon Lord Badington 's invitation , and , when she was tired of it , I supposed she would go away again . All of which they took down in pocket-books about as large as a family Bible , and then set out for the house , while I watched them with my heart in my very boots , and the sort of feeling that might overtake a man if the police set out to arrest his own sweetheart . Biggs , I should tell you , was with me when this happened , and mighty curious he was about it all .