presented in Major Carrington's pleasantry, but the always
possible danger to one who is carrying a sum of money about. It
would be considered, in the world of criminal activities, a very
large sum of money; and it had been lying here, as of no value,
in a drawer of the library table since the day on which the gold
certificates had arrived on my check from the Boston bank.

Madame Barras had not taken the currency away as I imagined. It
was extremely careless of her, but was it not an act in
character?

What would such a woman know of practical concern?

I spoke to the butler. He should not wait up, I would let myself
in; and I went out.

I remember that I got a cap and a stick out of the rack; there
was no element of selection in the cap, but there was a decided
subconscious direction about the selection of the stick. It was
a heavy blackthorn, with an iron ferrule and a silver weight set
in the head; picked up - by my father at some Irish fair - a
weapon in fact.

It was not dark. It was one of those clear hard nights that are
not uncommon on this island in midsummer; with a full moon, the
road was visible even in the wood. I swung along it with no
particular precaution; I was not expecting anything to happen,
and in fact, nothing did happen on the way into the village.

But in this attitude of confidence I failed to discover an event