"Oh, that's no way to treat me," he protested. "I didn't say anything
for you to get on your ear about. If I did, I'm sorry." He stepped
forward, offering to shake my hand, and as I took his doubtfully, he
pushed me back into my chair.

"You mustn't mind me," he went on. "It's been so long since I've seen
a man from God's country that I've forgotten how to do the polite.
Here, have another drink and start even." He was so eager and so
suddenly humble that I felt ashamed of my display of offended honor,
and we began again with a better understanding.

I told him once more why I had come, and this time he accepted my
story as though he considered my wishing to join Laguerre the most
natural thing in the world, nodding his head and muttering
approvingly. When I had finished he said, "You may not think so now,
but I guess you've come to the only person who can help you. If you'd
gone to anyone else you'd probably have landed in jail." He glanced
over his shoulder at the open door, and then, after a mysterious wink
at me, tiptoed out upon the veranda, and ran rapidly around and
through the house. This precaution on his part gave me a thrill of
satisfaction. I felt that at last I was a real conspirator that I was
concerned in something dangerous and weighty. I sipped at my glass
with an air of indifference, but as a matter of fact I was rather
nervous.

"You can't be too careful," Aiken said as he reseated himself. "Of
course, the whole thing is a comic opera, but if they suspect you are
working against them, they're just as likely as not to make it a
tragedy, with you in the star part. Now I'll explain how I got into
this, and I can assure you it wasn't through any love of liberty with