and in honour bound to regard his interests as paramount.

"I am hoping," said Thorndyke, as he held out his hand for my teacup,
"that these profound reflections of yours are connected with the Hornby
affair; in which case I should expect to hear that the riddle is solved
and the mystery made plain."

"Why should you expect that?" I demanded, reddening somewhat, I suspect,
as I met his twinkling eye. There was something rather disturbing in
the dry, quizzical smile that I encountered and the reflection that I
had been under observation, and I felt as much embarrassed as I should
suppose a self-conscious water-flea might feel on finding itself on the
illuminated stage of a binocular microscope.

"My dear fellow," said Thorndyke, "you have not spoken a word for the
last quarter of an hour; you have devoured your food with the relentless
regularity of a sausage-machine, and you have, from time to time, made
the most damnable faces at the coffee-pot--though there I'll wager the
coffee-pot was even with you, if I may judge by the presentment that it
offers of my own countenance."

I roused myself from my reverie with a laugh at Thorndyke's quaint
conceit and a glance at the grotesquely distorted reflection of my face
in the polished silver.

"I am afraid I _have_ been a rather dull companion this morning," I
admitted apologetically.

"By no means," replied Thorndyke, with a grin. "On the contrary, I have
found you both amusing and instructive, and I only spoke when I had