cessive!"

"I understand," I said briefly.

There was in his voice, perfectly courteous though it was, a note of
command which made one instinctively reply briefly--and obediently. I
felt disposed to be favourably impressed with my ally.

He left me standing for a moment in the drive while he led my
motor-cycle round to some shed at the back, and then we entered the
house by the front door.

"My servant doesn't spend the night here," he explained, "so we are
safe enough after dark, as long as we make no sound that can be heard
outside."

It was pitch-dark inside, and only when he had closed and bolted the
front door behind us, did Tiel flash his electric torch. Then I saw
that we stood in a small porch which opened into a little hall, with a
staircase facing us, and a passage opening beside it into the back of
the house. At either side was a door, and Tiel opened that on the
right and led me into a pleasant, low, lamp-lit room with a bright peat
fire blazing and a table laid for supper. I learned afterwards that
the clergyman who had just vacated the parish had left hurriedly, and
that his books and furniture had not yet followed him. Hence the room,
and indeed the whole house, looked habitable and comfortable.

"This is the place I have been looking for for a long time!" I cried
cheerfully, for indeed it made a pleasant contrast to a ruinous farm or
the interior of a submarine.

Tiel smiled. He had a pleasant smile, but it generally passed from his
face very swiftly, and left his expression cool, alert, composed, and a
trifle dominating.

"You had better take off your overalls and begin," he said. "There is
an English warning against conversation between a full man and a
fasting. I have had supper already."

When I took off my overalls, I noticed that he gave me a quick look of
surprise.

"In uniform!" he exclaimed.

"It may not be much use if I'm caught," I laughed, "but I thought it a
precaution worth taking."

"Excellent!" he agreed, and he seemed genuinely pleased. "It was very
well thought of. Do you drink whisky-and-soda?"

"You have no beer?"

He smiled and shook his head.

"I am a Scottish divine," he said, "and I am afraid my guests must
submit to whisky. Even in these little details it is well to be
correct."

For the next half-hour there was little conversation. To tell you the
truth I was nearly famished, and had something better to do than talk.
Tiel on his part opened a