know how the adventure progresses--if it progresses at all--and
remember, I hold your promise to come and see me again quite soon in any
case."

He handed me the board and the lamp, and, when I had slipped them into
my pocket, we shook hands and I hurried away, a little uneasy at having
left my charge so long.




Chapter III

"A Chiel's Amang Ye Takin' Notes"


The attitude of the suspicious man tends to generate in others the kind
of conduct that seems to justify his suspicions. In most of us there
lurks a certain strain of mischief which trustfulness disarms but
distrust encourages. The inexperienced kitten which approaches us
confidingly with arched back and upright tail, soliciting caresses,
generally receives the gentle treatment that it expects; whereas the
worldly-wise tom-cat, who, in response to friendly advances, scampers
away and grins at us suspiciously from the fancied security of an
adjacent wall, impels us to accelerate his retreat with a well-directed
clod.

Now the proceedings of Mr. H. Weiss resembled those of the tom-cat
aforesaid and invited an analogous reply. To a responsible professional
man his extraordinary precautions were at once an affront and a