to think of what would happen to them if he undertook to run. I could
not resist a glance at them now.

"It is something of a climb, isn't it?" said I beamingly.

"In the name of heaven, Mr. Smart, what could have induced you to--"
He got no farther than this, and to my certain knowledge this unfinished
reproof was the nearest he ever came to openly convicting me of
asininity.

"Make yourself at home, old fellow," said I in some haste. I felt sorry
for him. "We are going to be very cosy here."

"Cosy?" murmured he, blinking as he looked up, not at me but at the
frowning walls that seemed to penetrate the sky.

"I haven't explored those upper regions," I explained nervously,
divining his thoughts. "We shall do it together, in a day or two."

"It looks as though it might fall down if we jostled it carelessly,"
he remarked, having recovered his breath.

"I am expecting masons at any minute," said I, contemplating the
unstable stone crest of the northeast turret with some uneasiness. My
face brightened suddenly. "That particular section of the castle is
uninhabitable, I am told. It really doesn't matter if it collapses.
Ah, Britton! Here you are, I see. Good morning."

Britton, a very exacting servant, looked me over critically.