. I found him in the tap-room. They
should be on their way by this time, Sir Peter."

"That will do. Carus will act for me," said Sir Peter in a dull voice.

He entered the coach; I followed, and Dr. Carmody followed me and
closed the door. A heavy leather case lay beside me on the seat. I
rested my throbbing head on both hands, sitting swaying there in
silence as the coach dashed through Bowling Green again and sped
clattering on its way up-town.

CHAPTER VI

A NIGHT AND A MORNING

As our coach passed Crown Street I could no longer doubt whither we
were bound. The shock of certainty aroused me from the stunned lethargy
which had chained me to silence. At the same moment Sir Peter thrust
his head from the window and called to his coachman:

"Drive home first!" And to me, resuming his seat: "We had nigh
forgotten the case of pistols, Carus."

The horses swung west into Maiden Lane, then south through Nassau
Street, across Crown, Little Queen, and King Streets, swerving to the
right around the City Hall, then sharp west again, stopping at our own
gate with a clatter and clash of harness.

Sir Peter leaped out lightly, and I followed, leaving Dr. Carmody, with
his surgical case, to await our return.

Under the door-lanthorn Sir Peter turned, and in a low voice asked me
if I could remember where the pistol-case was laid.

My mind was now clear and alert, my wits already busily at work. To
prevent Sir Peter's facing Walter Butler; to avoid Cunningham's
gallows; could the first be accomplished without failure in the second?
Arrest might await me at any instant now, here in our own house, there
at the Coq d'Or, or even on the very field of honor itself.

"Where did you leave the pistol-case that day you practised in the
garden?" I asked coolly.

"'Twas you took it, Carus," he said. "Were you not showing the pistols
to Elsin Grey?"

I dropped my head, pretending to think. He waited a moment, then drew
out his latch-key and opened the door very softly. A single
sconce-candle flared in the hall; he lifted it from the gilded socket
and passed into the state drawing-room, holding the light above his
head, and searching over table and cabinet for the inlaid case.

Standing there in the hall I looked up the dark and shadowy stairway.
There was no light, no sound. In the drawing-room I heard Sir Peter
moving about, opening locked cupboards, lacquered drawers, and crystal
doors, the shifting light of his candl