reasonable desire to know whether Coryndon had done so or not, and his
reply was a low, amused laugh.

"In ten minutes Shiraz will do a little juggling for your servants," he
said placidly. "There are no cigars in the tin. I hope you didn't want
one, Hartley? He will probably tell them that I am a new arrival,
picked up by him at Bombay. Whatever he tells them, they will find him
amusing."

A misty moonlight lighted the garden with a soft, yellow haze, and the
harsh rattling of night beetles sounded unusually loud and noisy in the
silence.

"You said that you had just finished a job?"

"I have, and now I am on leave. The Powers have given me four months,
and I am going to London to hear the Wagner Cycle. I promised myself
that long ago, and unless something very special crops up to prevent me,
I shall start in a week from now."

They took another silent turn.

"Did your last job work out?"

"Yes. It took a long time, but I got back into touch with things I had
begun to forget, and it was interesting. Shall we go back into the
house?"

"Come in here," said Hartley, taking his way into the sitting-room. "I
have some notes in my safe that I want you to look at. The truth is,