I

At the receipt of the sat Miss Benjafield, as ever, her mind over a novelette.

'Who was the man who just left, Miss Benjafield?' I asked.

She marked the place with a thumb and looked up.

'The man? Oh, him! He's—why, weren't you in here, Mr Burns, one in January when—'

'That American?'

'That's him. What he's doing here I don't know. He a while back, and I haven't him since. Nor want. Tonight up he again like a ha'penny. I'd like to know what he's after. No good, if you ask me.'

Miss Benjafield's did not easily dissolve. She herself, as she observed, on her own mind.

'Is he here?'

'Not at the "Feathers". We're particular who we have here.'

I thanked her for the compliment, ordered for the good of the house, and, a pipe, sat to on this new development.

The were together with a vengeance. Sam within, Buck without, it was like old times, with the that now, I, too, was on the of the door.

It was not hard to account for Buck's reappearance. He would, of course, have it his to early of Mr Ford's movements. It would be easy for him to that the had been called away to the north and that the Nugget was still an of Sanstead House. And here he was preparing for the attack.

I had been in Buck's name from the list of active combatants. Broken mend. I ought to have that.

His presence on the made, I perceived, a to my plan of campaign. It was at this point that my purchase of the Browning pistol its and appeared in the light of an move. With Sam the only menace, I had been prepared to play a purely waiting game, from afar, to give my help if necessary. To check Buck, more methods were called for.

My mind was up. With Buck, that of the attack, in the field, there was only one place for me. I must into Sanstead House and there on guard.

Did he to make an movement tonight? That was the question which my mind. From the point of view of an opponent, there was this about Mr MacGinnis, that he was not subtle. He be on with to do the direct thing. Sooner or later he would make another of his upon the stronghold. The only point to be was he would make it that night. Would professional him to his sleep?

I did not the idea of the night the grounds, but it was that the house be protected. Then it to me that the man for the was Smooth Sam. If the of Mr MacGinnis had in one way, it had them in another, for there was no more need for the which had been, till now, the of my plan of action. Buck's it possible for me to come out and in the open, of over Sanstead House from like a Providence. Tomorrow I to turn Sam out. Tonight I would use him. The thing had itself into a tournament, and Sam and Buck should play the game.

Once more I called up the house on the telephone. There was a long a reply came. It was Mr Fisher's voice that spoke. Audrey, apparently, had not returned to the house after me.

'Hullo!' said Sam.

'Good evening, Mr Fisher.'

'Gee! Is that you, fellow-me-lad? Are you speaking from

London?'

'No. I am at the "Feathers".'

He richly.

'Can't tear away? Hat still in the ring? Say, what's the use? Why not turn it up, sonny? You're only your time.'

'Do you sleep lightly, Mr Fisher?'

'I don't you.'

'You had do so tonight. Buck MacGinnis is again.'

There was at the other end of the wire. Then I him softly. The of the had not been on Mr Fisher.

'Is that straight?'

'It is.'

'You're not me?'

'Certainly not.'

'You're sure it was Buck?'

'Is Buck's the of one forgets?'

He again.

'You disturbed,' I said.

'Where did you see him?' asked Sam.

'Coming out of the "Feathers", looking very and determined.

The Berserk blood of the MacGinnises is up. He's going to do or

die. I'm this means an all-night for you, Mr

Fisher.'

'I you had put him out of business!'

There was a note in his voice.

'Only temporarily. I did my best, but he wasn't when

I saw him.'

He did not speak for a moment. I that he was over the new development.

'Thanks for me off, sonny. It's a thing knowing. Why did you do it?'

'Because I love you, Samuel. Good night.'

I rose late and at my leisure. The peace of the English country me as I my chair and the pipe of the morning. It was a day to a man for great deeds, one of those days of which comes sometimes to help us the of early spring. The sun in through the open window. In the their music. The of very to such a morning.

I out into the Square. I was in no to end this of peace and on what, for all practical purposes, would be a siege.

After lunch, I decided, would be time to active campaigning.

The clock on the church tower was two as I set forth, my suit-case, on my way to the school. The light-heartedness of the still with me. I was at the of the I was about to give Mr Fisher. That still rankled.

As I my way through the I saw Audrey in the distance, walking with the Nugget. I them and on into the house.

About the house there was the same air of which the grounds. Perhaps the was more insistent. I had so to the never-ending noise and of the boys' that, as I the hall, I had an almost of intrusion. I like a burglar.

Sam, the object of my visit, would, I imagined, if he were in the house at all, be in the housekeeper's room, a little off the passage leading to the kitchen. I to that first, and was rewarded, on pushing open the half-closed door, by the of a pair of black-trousered out me from the of a wicker-work armchair. His middle section, like a small hill, rhythmically. His was with a handkerchief, from which came, in succession, and snores. It was a peaceful picture—the good man taking his rest; and for me it had an added in that it that Sam was doing by day what my had him from doing in the night. It had been some small to me, as I trying to my mind for sleep on the previous night, that Mr Fisher also was his vigil.

Pleasing as Sam was as a study in still life, pressure of me to him into activity. I him in the centre of the the black trousers. He and sat up. The from his face, and he at me, with the of the newly awakened, then with a 'Soul's Awakening' expression, which spread over his until it melted into a smile.

'Hello, man!'

'Good afternoon. You tired.'

He cavernously.

'Lord! What a night!'

'Did Buck in?'

'No, but I he had every time I a creak. I didn't close my for a minute. Have you all night, waiting for the that you if you don't watch out? Well, take it from me it's no picnic.'

His in another yawn. He his into it, as if life no other for him. Only in have I its equal.

I waited till the had itself. Then I came to business.

'I'm sorry you had a night, Mr Fisher. You must make up for it this afternoon. You will the very comfortable.'

'How's that?'

'At the "Feathers". I should go there, if I were you. The are reasonable, and the food is good. You will like the "Feathers".'

'I don't you, sonny.'

'I was trying to it to you that you are about to move from this house. Now. At once. Take your last of the old home, Sam, and out into the hard world.'

He looked at me inquiringly.

'You to be talking, man; appear to be from you; but your meaning, if any, me.'

'My meaning is that I am about to turn you out. I am here, and there is not room for of us. So, if you do not see your way to going quietly, I shall take you by the of the and you out. Do I make myself clear now?'

He permitted himself a rich chuckle.

'You have gall, man. Well, I to unfriendly. I like you, sonny. You me—but there are moments when one wants to be alone. I have a whole of of sleep to make up. Trot along, kiddo, and uncle. Tie a to and disappear. Bye-bye.'

The wicker-work as he settled his body. He up the handkerchief.

'Mr Fisher,' I said, 'I have no wish to your at a the drive, so I will further. I am physically than you. I to turn you out. How can you prevent it? Mr Abney is away. You can't to him. The police are at the end of the telephone, but you can't to them. So what can you do, go? Do you me now?'

He the in silence. He allowed no to in his face, but I that the of my had in. I almost his mind as he my position point by point and it impregnable.

When he spoke it was to accept jauntily.

'You are my jinx, man. I said it all along. You're set on my going? Say no more. I'll go. After all, it's at the inn, and what more a man want at my time of life?'

I out into the garden to Audrey.

She was walking up and on the tennis-lawn. The Nugget, in a deck-chair, appeared to be asleep.

She of me as I came out from the of trees, and stopped. I had the trying of walking across open country under observation.

The of Sam had left me and self-confident. I no embarrassment. I her briskly.

'Good afternoon. I have been talking to Sam Fisher. If you wait, you will see him away the drive. He is the house. I am back.'

'Coming back?'

She spoke incredulously, or, rather, as if my had no meaning. It was so that Sam had spoken. Her mind, like his, took time to itself to the unexpected.

She to to my meaning with a start.

'Coming back?' Her widened. The on her cheeks.

'But I told you—'

'I know what you told me. You said you did not trust me. It doesn't matter. I am you trust me or not. This house is under law, and I am in command. The has since I spoke to you last night. Last night I was to let you have your way. I to keep an on from the inn. But it's different now. It is not a case of Sam Fisher any longer. You have managed Sam. It's Buck MacGinnis now, the man who came that night in the automobile. I saw him in the village after I left you. He's dangerous.'

She looked away, past me, in the direction of the drive. I her gaze. A figure, a suit-case, was moving slowly it.

I smiled. Her met mine, and I saw the anger that had been at the of them out. Her up with the old tilt. I was sorry I had smiled. It was my old fault, the that would not be hidden.

'I don't you!' she cried. 'I don't trust you!'

It is how one's for on a of or as the action develops. Once started on an enterprise it is as if one with it automatically, of one's original motives. I had what I might call the second phase of this of the Little Nugget, the of Cynthia's in of Audrey's, with a clear idea of why I was doing it. I had set myself to the which were trying to take Ogden from Audrey, for one reason, I loved Audrey and to help her. That motive, if it still at all, did so only in the of chivalry. My personal her to have a complete change, from our in the road the night before. I myself now meeting with hostility. I looked at her and told myself that her spell was at last, that, if she me, I was at least to her.

And yet, despite my feelings, my to help her wavered. The of Ogden might be—primarily—no of mine, but I had it as my business.

'I don't ask you to trust me,' I said. 'We have settled all that. There's no need to go over old ground. Think what you about this. I've up my mind.'

'If you to stay, I I can't prevent you.'

'Exactly.'

Sam appeared again in a in the trees, walking slowly and pensively, as one from his Moscow. Her him till he was out of sight.

'If you like,' I said bitterly, 'you may put what I am doing to professional rivalry. If I am in love with Mrs Ford and am here to Ogden for her, it is natural for me to do all I can to prevent Buck MacGinnis him. There is no need for you to look on me as an we are together.'

'We are not together.'

'We shall be in a very time. Buck will not let another night go by without doing something.'

'I don't that you saw him.'

'Just as you please,' I said, and walked away. What did it to me what she believed?

The day on. Towards the weather suddenly, after the fashion of in England. Showers of rain me to the study.

It must have been nearly ten o'clock when the telephone rang.

It was Mr Fisher.

'Hello, is that you, sonny?'

'It is. Do you want anything?'

'I want a talk with you. Business. Can I come up?'

'If you wish it.'

'I'll start right away.'

It was some fifteen minutes later that I in the the of an automobile. The through the trees, and presently the car the of the drive and up at the door. A got and the bell. I these from a window on the floor, the steps; and it was from this window that I spoke.

'Is that you, Mr Fisher?'

He away from the door.

'Where are you?'

'Is that your car?'

'It to a friend of mine.'

'I didn't know you meant to a party.'

'There's only three of us. Me, the chauffeur, and my friend—MacGinnis.'

The possibility, the probability, of Sam out Buck and an had to me, and I was prepared for it. I my on the pistol in my hand.

'Mr Fisher.'

'Hello!'

'Ask your friend MacGinnis to be good to step into the light of that lamp and his gun.'

There was a conversation. I Buck's voice like a train going under a bridge. The did not appear to with him. Then came an of speech from Mr Fisher. I not the words, but I that he was pointing out to him that, on this occasion only, the visit being for the purposes of and not of attack, pistols might be looked on as non-essentials. Whatever his arguments, they were successful, for, finally, as to the and muttering, Buck moved into the light.

'Good evening, Mr MacGinnis,' I said. 'I'm to see your leg is all right again. I won't you a moment. Just in your pockets and a of your guns, and then you can come in out of the rain. To prevent any misunderstanding, I may say I have a gun of my own. It is on you now.'

'I ain't got no gun.'

'Come along. This is no time for persiflage. Out with them.'

A moment's hesitation, and a small black pistol to the ground.

'No more?'

'Think I'm a regiment?'

'I don't know what you are. Well, I'll take your word for it. You will come in one by one, with your hands up.'

I and opened the door, my pistol in against the unexpected.

II

Sam came first. His hands gave him a air (Bishop Blessing Pilgrims), and the he the illusion. Mr MacGinnis, who followed, no such idea. He was to himself, and he me askance.

I them into the and on the light. The air was full of many odours. Disuse to out the inky-chalky, appley-deal-boardy of a as the night out the of flowers. During the term I had this so like a classroom. I use of my free hand to secure and light a cigarette.

Sam rose to a point of order.

'Young man,' he said. I should like to you that we are here, as it were, under a flag of truce. To a gun on us and keep us our hands up this way is work. I sure I speak for my friend Mr MacGinnis.'

He an at his friend Mr MacGinnis, who the motion by into the fireplace. I had at a previous his gift for his by this means of mode of expression. A man of habit, by the more of words, he was almost an in expectoration.

'Mr MacGinnis with me,' said Sam cheerfully. 'Do we take them down? Have we your permission to assume Position Two of these Swedish exercises? All we came for was a little among gentlemen, and we can talk just as well—speaking for myself, better—in a less attitude. A little rest, Mr Burns! A little of the hands? Thank you.'

He did not wait for permission, was it necessary. Sam and the was as oil and water. It was to them. I the pistol on the table and sat down. Buck, after one at the weapon, did the same. Sam was already seated, and was looking so and at home that I almost it of me not to have provided and cake for this gathering.

'Well,' I said, 'what can I do for you?'

'Let me explain,' said Sam. 'As you have, no doubt, gathered, Mr

MacGinnis and I have gone into partnership. The Little Nugget

Combine!'

'I that—well?'

'Judicious are the of business. Mr MacGinnis and I have been in the past, but we saw that the moment had come for the smile, the handshake, in fact, for an alliance. We a team, sonny. My partner's is action. I supply the strategy. Say, can't you see you're up against it? Why be foolish?'

'You think you're to win?'

'It's a cinch.'

'Then why trouble to come here and see me?'

I appeared to have put into the which was Mr MacGinnis. He into speech.

'Ahr chee! Sure! What's de use? Didn't I tell youse? What's de use of wastin' time? What are we spielin' away here for? Let's busy.'

Sam a hand him with the air of a making a point.

'You see! The man of action! He trouble. He for it. He eats it alive. Now I peace. Why have a when you can what you want quietly? That's my motto. That's why we've come. It's the old proposition. We're here to you out. Yes, I know you have the offer before, but have changed. Your stock has fallen. In fact, of you in on terms, we only now in a commission. For the moment you may to a position. You are in the house, and you've got the boy. But there's nothing to it really. We him in five minutes if we to having a fuss. But it to me there's no need of any fuss. We should win easy all right, if it came to trouble; but, on the other hand, you've a gun, and there's a some of us might hurt, so what's the good when we can settle it quietly? How about it, sonny?'

Mr MacGinnis to rumble, to making on the situation, but Sam him and his on me.

'Fifteen is our offer,' he said.

'And to think it was once fifty-fifty!'

'Strict business!'

'Business? It's sweating!'

'It's our limit. And it wasn't easy to make Buck here agree to that. He like a mule.'

Buck his and me disagreeably. I it is hard to think of a man who has your leg. It was plain that, with Mr MacGinnis, were by no means bygones.

I rose.

'Well, I'm sorry you should have had the trouble of here for nothing. Let me see you out. Single file, please.'

Sam looked aggrieved.

'You turn it down?'

'I do.'

'One moment. Let's have this thing clear. Do you what you're up against? Don't think it's only Buck and me you've got to tackle. All the boys are here, waiting the corner, the same that came the other night. Be sensible, sonny. You don't a dog's chance. I shouldn't like to see you hurt. And you know what may not happen. The boys are at you of what you did that night. I shouldn't act like a bonehead, sonny—honest.'

There was a ring in his voice which touched me. Between him and me there had up an odd of friendship. He meant business; but he would, I knew, be sorry if I came to harm. And I see that he was in his that I was in a tight and that my against the Combine were infinitesimal. I that, with victory so certain, he had had in his to allow him to make his offer.

But he had one thing—the telephone. That he should have this mistake me. If it had been Buck, I have it. Buck's was a mind which itself to such blunders. From Sam I had things, as the telephone had been so much in of late. He had used it himself only an hour ago.

I to the of the telephone. It gave me the of the who the ace. The was in my hands. The police, I knew, had been by Mr MacGinnis's previous raid. When I called them up, as I to do directly the door had closed on the ambassadors, there would be no of response. It would not again be a case of Inspector Bones and Constable Johnson to the rescue. A great cloud of would to our help.

With these in my mind, I answered Sam but firmly.

'I'm sorry I'm unpopular, but all the same—'

I the door.

Emotion that only be in and not through his medium up in Mr MacGinnis. He with a snarl, as my his eye.

'Say, you! Listen here! You'll—'

Sam, the peaceable, at his elbow.

'Nothing doing, Buck. Step lively.'

Buck wavered, then allowed himself to be away. We passed out of the in our order of entry.

An from the stairs me look up. Audrey was over the banisters. Her was in the shadow, but I from her voice that the of our little had her. I was not surprised. Buck was a spectacle, and his of to himself, as he walked, to strangers.

'Good evening, Mrs Sheridan,' said Sam suavely.

Audrey did not speak. She by Buck.

I opened the door and they passed out. The was still on the drive. Buck's pistol had disappeared. I the had it up, a which was proved a moments later, when, just as the car was moving off, there was a and a the to the right of the door. It was a shot, and I did not return it. Its on me was to send me into the with a that was almost a back-somersault. Somehow, though I was up for and the of pistols, I had not it at just that moment, and I was at the it had me. I the door and it. I was to that my were trembling.

Audrey had left the stairs and was me.

'They at me,' I said.

By the light of the lamp I see that she was very pale.

'It missed by a mile.' My nerves had not and I spoke abruptly. 'Don't be frightened.'

'I—I was not frightened,' she said, without conviction.

'I was,' I said, with conviction. 'It was too for me. It's the of thing one wants to used to gradually. I shall be for it another time.'

I for the stairs.

'Where are you going?'

'I'm going to call up the police-station.'

'Peter.'

'Yes?'

'Was—was that man the one you spoke of?'

'Yes, that was Buck MacGinnis. He and Sam have gone into partnership.'

She hesitated.

'I'm sorry,' she said.

I was half-way up the stairs by this time. I stopped and looked over the banisters.

'Sorry?'

'I didn't you this afternoon.'

'Oh, that's all right,' I said. I to make my voice indifferent, for I was on against friendliness. I had my mind into an of safe her, and I saw the old ahead if I allowed myself to it.

I to the telephone and the receiver.

There is to be a about the methods of country telephone-operators, and the that a voice did not ask me what number I wanted did not at me. Suspicion of the truth came to me, I think, after my third into the had unanswered. I had from before, but such as this.

I must have there two minutes, at intervals, I the truth. Then I the and against the wall. For the moment I was as as if I had a blow. I not think. It was only by that I to that Audrey was speaking to me.

'What is it? Don't they answer?'

It is how the mind to the need for making an for the of somebody else. If I had had only myself to think of, it would, I believe, have been a time I have my to with this disaster. But the of the truth to Audrey and of helping her to up under it me at once. I myself how best I might to her what had happened.

'I'm afraid,' I said, 'I have something to tell you which may—'

She me quickly.

'What is it? Can't you make them answer?'

I my head. We looked at each other in silence.

Her mind to the truth more than mine had done.

'They have cut the wire!'

I took up the again and gave another call. There was no reply.

'I'm so,' I said.