"If this were not so," he explained, "you would have no occasion
to apply to me, Sir Charles. It is my business to look for facts.
Naturally, I do not expect my clients to supply them."

Sir Charles slowly nodded his head, and seemed in some measure to
recover confidence.

"Briefly, then," he said, "I believe my life is in danger."

"You mean that there is someone who desires your death?"

"I do."

"H'm," said Harley, replacing the tin in the cupboard and
striking a match. "Even if the facts are scanty, no doubt you
have fairly substantial grounds for such a suspicion?"

"I cannot say that they are substantial, Mr. Harley. They are
rather more circumstantial. Frankly, I have forced myself to come
here, and now that I have intruded upon your privacy, I realize
my difficulties more keenly than ever."

The expression of embarrassment upon the speaker's face had grown
intense; and now he paused, bending forward in his chair. He
seemed in his glance to appeal for patience on the part of his
hearer, and Harley, lighting his pipe, nodded in understanding
fashion. He was the last man in the world to jump to conclusions.
He had learned by bitter experience that lightly to dismiss such
cases as this of Sir Charles as coming within the province of