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

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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.




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