from a ship in mid-Atlantic
for a swim as come to indulge his sentimentalities in the Bittermeads
garden at night.

"You silly ass!" he said in a voice that was very low, but very distinct
and very full of an extreme disgust and anger.

Clive fairly leaped in the air with his surprise, and turned and made a
sudden dash at the spot whence Dunn's voice had come, but where Dunn no
longer was.

"What the blazes--?" he began, spluttering in ineffectual rage.
"You--you--!"

"You silly ass!" Dunn repeated, no less emphatically than before.

Clive made another rush that a somewhat prickly bush very effectually
stopped.

"You--who are you--where--what--how dare you?" he gasped as he picked
himself up and tried to disentangle himself from the prickles.

"Don't make such a row," said Dunn from a new direction. "Do you want
to raise the whole neighbourhood? Haven't you played the fool enough?
If you want to commit suicide, why can't you cut your throat quietly and
decently at home, instead of coming alone to the garden at Bittermeads
at night?"

There was a note of sombre and intense conviction in his voice that
penetrated even the excited mind of the raging Clive.

"What do you mean?" he asked, and then:

"Who are you?"

"Never mind who I am," answered Dunn. "And I mean just what I say. You
might as well commit suicide out of hand as come fooling about here
alone at night."

"You're crazy, you're talking rubbish!" Clive exclaimed.

"I'm neither crazy nor talking rubbish," answered Dunn. "But if you
persist in making such a row I shall take myself off and leave you to
see the thing through by yourself and get yourself knocked on the head
any way you like best."

"Oh, I'm beginning to understand," said Clive. "I suppose you're one
of my poaching friends--are you? Look here, if you know who it was
who attacked me the other night you can earn fifty pounds any time you
like."

"Your poaching friends, as you call them," answered Dunn, "are most
likely only anxious to keep out of your way. This has nothing to do with
them."

"Well, come nearer and let me see you," Clive said. "You needn't be
afraid. You can't expect me to take any notice of some one I can't see,
talking rubbish in the dark."

"I don't much care whether you take any notice or not," answered Dunn.
"You can go your own silly way if you like, it's nothing to me. I've
warned you, and if you care to listen I'll make my warning a little
clearer. And on