Dr. Hart thundered. “Unacceptable, do you hear me?” “Yes, sir,” I said in the direction of the blotter on his desk. Miss Parkhurst echoed the sentiment from the chair beside me. I felt like a schoolboy dragged before the headmaster. Dr. Hart’s day had already been ruined by one of his staff going mad and damaging a valuable work of art. Now I’d come to tell him the Wisborg Codex had been stolen from inside my own office. Impatience warred with embarrassment. I had to get out of here and let Griffin know what had happened. The way Mr. Durfree had behaved, his sudden confusion, seemed far too similar to Lambert’s experience. “It isn’t Dr. Whyborne’s fault, sir,” Miss Parkhurst offered tentatively. “It is entirely Dr. Whyborne’s fault!” I risked a glance up; Dr. Hart’s round face had gone red with anger. I lowered my gaze hurriedly again. “Keeping a valuable artifact like the Wisborg Codex just lying about in your office was utterly irresponsible. That is doubly true, given there was already one attempt to steal it!”
