that you pay to see over. And I'm never there myself because - I
tell you frankly - I hate it like poison!"




CHAPTER VIII

A SMALL PRECAUTION


My delight in the society of this young Squire Rattray (as I soon
was to hear him styled) had been such as to make me almost forget
the sinister incident which had brought us together. When I
returned to my room, however, there were the open window and the
litter on the floor to remind me of what had happened earlier in
the night. Yet I was less disconcerted than you might suppose. A
common housebreaker can have few terrors for one who has braved
those of mid-ocean single-handed; my would-be visitor had no longer
any for me; for it had not yet occurred to me to connect him with
the voices and the footsteps to which, indeed, I had been unable
to swear before the doctor. On the other hand, these morbid
imaginings (as I was far from unwilling to consider them) had one
and all deserted me in the sane, clean company of the capital young
fellow in the next room.

I have confessed my condition up to the time of this queer meeting.
I have tried to bring young Rattray before you with some hint of his
freshness and his boyish charm; and though the sense of failure is
heavy upon me there, I who knew the man knew also that I must fail