Larry paused to light a fresh cigarette.
"You always did have a way of arriving opportunely.
Go on!"
"It pleased my fancy to follow him; and by the time
I had studied your diggings here a trifle, things began
to happen below. It sounded like a St. Patrick's
Day celebration in an Irish village, and I went down at
a gallop to see if there was any chance of breaking in.
Have you seen the room? Well,"-he gave several
turns to his right wrist, as though to test it,-"we all
had a jolly time there by the fireplace. Another chap
had got in somewhere, so there were two of them. Your
man-I suppose it's your man-was defending himself
gallantly with a large thing of brass that looked like
the pipes of a grand organ-and I sailed in with a chair.
My presence seemed to surprise the attacking party,
who evidently thought I was you,-flattering, I must
say, to me!"
"You undoubtedly saved Bates' life and prevented the
rifling of the house. And after you had poured water
on Bates,-he's the servant,-you came up here-"
"That's the way of it."
"You're a brick, Larry Donovan. There's only one of
you; and now-"
"And now, John Glenarm, we've got to get down to
business,-or you must. As for me, after a few hours
of your enlivening society-"
"You don't go a step until we go together,-no, by
the beard of the prophet! I've a fight on here and I'm
going to win if I die in the struggle, and you've got to
stay with me to the end."
"But under the will you dare not take a boarder."
"Of course I dare! That will's as though it had
never been as far as I'm concerned. My grandfather
never expected me to sit here alone and be murdered.
John Marshall Glenarm wasn't a fool exactly!"
"No, but a trifle queer, I should say. I don't have
to tell you, old man, that this situation appeals to me.
It's my kind of a job. If it weren't that the hounds are
at my heels I'd like to stay with you, but you have
enough trouble on hands without opening the house to
an attack by my enemies."
"Stop talking about it. I don't propose to be deserted
by the only friend I have in the world when I'm up
to my eyes in trouble. Let's go down and get some
coffee."
We found Bates trying to remove the evidences of the
night's struggle. He had fastened a cold pack about his
head and limped slightly; otherwise he was the same-
silent and inexplicable.
Daylight had not improved the appearance of the
room. Several hundred books lay scattered over the
floor, and the shelves which had held them were hacked
and broken.