same to
you, I should prefer to limit my assistance to advice and sympathy. I am
anxious to help, but I am a man of regular habits, which I do not wish
to disturb. Did you ever read 'Footpaths of Fate,' in the Nosegay
series, sir? I've only just remembered it, and it contains the most
helpful suggestion of the lot. There had been a misunderstanding between
the heroine and the hero--their names have slipped my mind, though I
fancy his was Cyril--and she had told him to hop it...."

"To what?"

"To leave her for ever, sir. And what do you think he did?"

"How the deuce do I know?"

"He kidnapped her little brother, sir, to whom she was devoted, kept him
hidden for a bit, and then returned him, and in her gratitude all was
forgotten and forgiven, and never...."

"I know. Never had the bells of the old village church...."

"Rung out a blither peal. Exactly, sir. Well, there, if you will allow
me to say so, you are, sir! You need seek no further for a plan of
action."

"Miss Bennett hasn't got a little brother."

"No, sir. But she has a dog, and is greatly attached to it."

Sam stared. From the expression on his face it was evident that Webster
imagined himself to have made a suggestion of exceptional intelligence.
It struck Sam as the silliest he had ever heard.

"You mean I ought to steal her dog?"

"Precisely, sir."

"But, good heavens! Have you seen that dog?"

"The one to which I allude is a small brown animal with a fluffy tail."

"Yes, and a bark like a steam-siren, and, in addition to that, about
eighty-five teeth, all sharper than razors. I couldn't get within ten
feet of that dog without its lifting the roof off, and, if I did, it
would chew me into small pieces."

"I had anticipated that difficulty, sir. In 'Footpaths of Fate' there
was a nurse who assisted the hero by drugging the child."

"By Jove!" said Sam, impressed.

"He rewarded her," said Webster, allowing his gaze to stray nonchalantly
over the countryside, "liberally, very liberally."

"If you mean that you expect me to reward you if you drug the dog," said
Sam, "don't worry. Let me bring this thing off, and you can have all
I've got, and my cuff-links as well. Come now, this is really beginning
to look like something. Speak to me more of this matter. Where do we go
from here?"

"I beg your pardon, sir?"

"I mean, what's the next step in the scheme? Oh, Lord!" Sam's face fell.
The light of hope died out of his eyes. "It's all of