appeared lumbering along in the mud, and was instantly hailed by my

companion. 'Just pull up here, will you?' he cried. 'We have some

baggage up the street.'

And now came the hitch of our adventure; for when the policeman,

still closely following us, beheld my two boxes lying in the rain,

he arose from mere suspicion to a kind of certitude of something

evil. The light in the house had been extinguished; the whole

frontage of the street was dark; there was nothing to explain the

presence of these unguarded trunks; and no two innocent people were

ever, I believe, detected in such questionable circumstances.

'Where have these things come from?' asked the policeman, flashing

his light full into my champion's face.

'Why, from that house, of course,' replied the young gentleman,

hastily shouldering a trunk.

The policeman whistled and turned to look at the dark windows; he

then took a step towards the door, as though to knock, a course

which had infallibly proved our ruin; but seeing us already

hurrying down the street under our double burthen, thought better

or worse of it, and followed in our wake.

'For God's sake,' whispered my companion, 'tell me where to drive

to.'

'Anywhere,' I replied with anguish. 'I have no idea. Anywhere you

like.'

Thus it befell that, when the boxes had been stowed, and I had

already entered the cab, my deliverer called out in clear tones the

address of the house in which we are now seated. The policeman, I

could see, was staggered. This neighbourhood, so retired, so

aristocratic, was far from what he had expected. For all that, he

<<BackPagesTo menuNext>>