The Mystery of the Crossed Needles, or Nick Carter and the Yellow Tong (ePub)

Excerpt: The electric bell from Andrew Anderton?s study rang sharply. It was close to the ear of the butler dozing in his little room off the hall at the back of the main staircase, and he awoke with a start. ?Lord love ?im!? exclaimed that functionary, stalking to the door with as much haste as his dignity would permit. ?Why doesn?t ?e stop ringing? I ?eard ?im the first time, without ?im keeping the blooming bell going all the time.? Then, as he reached the door and made for the stairs, he continued grumblingly: ?All right, Mr. Anderton. I ?ear you. You certainly are a most impatient gentleman. I never seed anything like you for ?urrying a man, not even in the old country. Though the Marquis of Silsby?my last master before I left England?was a ?asty sort of gentleman, too. This was the way ?e always acted. Wanted me to be right on the spot as soon as he touched the bell, although ?e knew very well I was two floors below ?im. My word! That bell?s still ringing. I can ?ear it from up ?ere.? The butler, by this time, was on the second floor of the handsome house in upper Fifth Avenue, where Andrew Anderton, the millionaire traveler and Oriental student, lived. He pushed open the door of the study. ?Did you ring, sir?? He had these words out, from force of habit, before he even looked around the room. When he did, he gave utterance to a shout that brought a maid, who had been passing along the hallway, surging in, white-faced and round-eyed, to see what was the matter. Andrew Anderton, in the handsome, velvet, embroidered dressing gown he generally wore when alone in his study, was lying across the floor, face down. His body, pressed on the electric foot button, kept the bell below ringing continuously.