my clutches. And, apart from patriotic motives, of what a lift that would
give to my tarnished character!

"Let me recall the fellow carefully," said I to myself, "and get his face
and voice well into my head against our next meeting."

I tried to reconstruct our first meeting exactly as it had happened, to
see again that dark figure rise in my path, and look into the face
beneath the sou'wester. I shall not say precisely that this endeavour
shook my confidence, but it certainly made me realise that I should have
to set to work very warily to trap the man, for the harder I tried to see
in my mind's eye that face distinctly, the less distinct it grew. I could
certainly swear to a moustache, and I felt pretty sure there was a beard
as well, but not absolutely certain. He was of middle height, say between
5 feet 6, and 5 feet 10; but that was a fairly wide margin. In fact all I
could positively swear to was that he was neither an obviously tall nor
an obviously short man.

As to his build, he seemed thick-set and sturdy, but then who does not in
an oilskin coat? It would take a very slight figure indeed to look
slender in an oilskin. So here again I could only say that he was neither
a remarkably stout man nor a remarkably thin man. And this was really all
I could swear to in the matter of his outward appearance; though I told
myself confidently enough that if I actually fell in with him again I
should recognise him fast enough.

"He can't disguise his voice anyhow," I said to myself.

And then here again I began to realise a small difficulty; though
nothing, it seemed to me very serious. After his first involuntary reply