The Hotel Mossop had opened seven years prior, was celebrated as being fireproof and was the nearest hotel to the Royal Ontario Museum, itself a recent addition to Ontario's capital, as it had opened only four years prior. As Alexander walked into the lobby by his master's side, he suddenly felt all eyes on them.
He looked to the hotel patrons, staring at them with their critical eyes. Alexander merely stared back while his mate Roxana walked sniffed a nearby chair. Cnut stared at the patrons as well, watching as an ugly brute with a bulldog narrowed his eyes.
"Captain Kull Smith!" The sound of this new, excited voice caused all heads of the group to turn. The ears of the four quadrupeds all went fully erect and the group watched as a man of fifty-seven years with a mustache equal to Captain Smith's in greatness stepped forward. The man excitedly shook his hand and said: "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle! A pleasure to meet you, sir! I read your book 'In the Shadow of the Pyramids'. Splendidly informative, my good man!"
Upon seeing Arthur Conan Doyle, Alan was awestruck. One of his favourite modern authors, right here before him! The sixteen-year-old boy could hardly believe it!
Alan was a lean boy with a hooked nose and a square jaw. His skin was ruddy, his red hair short and curly and his mismatched with the left being blue and the right green. He was five feet and five inches in height, being one of many dwarfed by his uncle. His usual attire was a white shirt, black trousers and shoes and a red blazer. He had been living with his uncle since his father's death at St Eloi Craters and his mother's death the following month. Bit by bit he had been improving and then his grandmother's death came early in the autumn, causing him to wonder why it was that year that decided to take members of his family away from him.
Smiling at Sir Arthur, Captain Smith said: "It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Sir Arthur." Then gesturing to Alan, he said: "My nephew Alan here is a fan of your works. He has called 'The Lost World' and 'The White Company' some of his favourite stories, even prefers Professor Challenger to Sherlock Holmes."
Sir Arthur looked to Alan and said: "For that, my dear boy, I thank you!" Alan gave a small smile and nodded at Sir Arthur, whom continued to smile and then looked down at Alexander and Roxana. "Now, captain, which of these two are the famous Darius who had been with you since the Second Boer War?"
"Darius was fatally wounded by a Canada lynx last year." Answered Captain Smith, as he knelt down and placed a hand on Alexander's back. "Our male Northern caracal here is Alexander…" then putting a hand upon Roxana's back, he finished, saying: "And our female Indian caracal is Roxana."
"They are beautiful creatures." Said Sir Arthur as he too knelt down and stretched out a hand. Both Alexander and Roxana sniffed the hand and then together, rubbed their heads against it.
That the ever-friendly Alexander was rubbing his hand against Sir Arthur's hand was of little surprise, but for Roxana, who had been cruelly treated by Herr Ludwig von Fell, it caused some surprise. For Captain Smith and Gemma, the two people whom Roxana was most comfortable around, it merely showed that she was coming around.
As the two men stood up, Captain Smith said: "Sir Arthur, I must get everyone seen to here. Perhaps we will meet at the Royal Ontario Museum."
Nodding, Sir Arthur made his departure from the scene. As he departed, Alexander wonder what secrets this man knew, if indeed he knew any, of the strange word he had recently learned. What did Sir Arthur know of Halloween?