sandwiches, or some bread and cheese, or something--it's a longish spin."

He himself, waiting while the chauffeur ate and drank, and the provisions
were made ready, took a whisky and soda to a chair by the fire, and once
more pulled out and read the telegram. And as he read he wondered why
his cousin, its sender, wished so particularly to see him at once. James
Allerdyke, a man somewhat younger than himself, like himself a bachelor
of ample means and of a similar temperament, had of late years concerned
himself greatly with various business speculations in Northern Europe,
and especially in Russia. He had just been over to St. Petersburg in
order to look after certain of his affairs in and near that city, and he
was returning home by way of Stockholm and Christiania, in each of which
towns he had other ventures to inspect. But Marshall Allerdyke was quite
sure that his cousin did not wish to see him about any of these
matters--anything connected with them would have kept until they met in
the ordinary way, which would have happened within a day or two. No, if
James had taken the trouble to send him a message by wireless from the
North Sea, it meant that James was really anxious to see him at the first
available moment, and would already have landed in Hull, expecting to
find him there. However, with a good car, smooth roads, and a fine,
moonlit night--

It was not yet twelve o'clock when Allerdyke wrapped himself up in a
corner of his luxurious Rolls-Royce, saw that the box of eatables and the
two Thermos flasks were safe in the locker, and told Gaffney to go ahead.
He himself had the faculty of going to sleep whenever he pleased, and he
went to sleep now. He was asleep as Gaffney went through Leeds and its
suburbs; he slept all along the country roads which led to Selby and
thence to Howden. But in the silent streets of Howden he woke with a
start, to find that Gaffney had pulled up in answer to a question flung