ever ventured myself to describe them."

Their passage was difficult. Every now and then Sir Timothy was
compelled to shake hands with some of his newly-arriving guests. At
last, however, they reached the little sitting-room. Sir Timothy turned
back to Wilmore, who hesitated.

"You had better come in, too, Mr. Wilmore, if you will," he invited.
"You were with Ledsam, the first day we met, and something which I have
to say now may interest you."

"If I am not intruding," Wilmore murmured.

They entered the room, still jealously guarded. Sir Timothy closed the
door behind them.

CHAPTER XXXIV

The apartment was one belonging to the older portion of the house,
and had been, in fact, an annex to the great library. The walls were
oak-panelled, and hung with a collection of old prints. There were some
easy-chairs, a writing-table, and some well-laden bookcases. There
were one or two bronze statues of gladiators, a wonderful study of two
wrestlers, no minor ornaments. Sir Timothy plunged at once into what he
had to say.

"I promised you, Lady Cynthia, and you, Ledsam," he said, "to divulge
exactly the truth as regards these much-talked-of entertainments here.
You, Margaret, under present circumstances, are equally interested. You,
Wilmore, are Ledsam's friend, and you happen to have an interest in this
particular party. Therefore, I am glad to have you all here together.
The superficial part of my entertainment you have seen. The part which
renders it necessary for me to keep closed doors, I shall now explain.
I give prizes here of considerable value for boxing contests which are
conducted under rules of our own. One is due to take place in a very few
minutes. The contests vary in character, but I may say that the chief
officials of the National Sporting Club are usually to be found here,
only, of course, in an unofficial capacity. The difference between the
contests arranged by me, and others, is that my men are here to fight.
They use sometimes an illegal weight of glove and they sometimes hurt
one another. If any two of the boxing fraternity have a grudge against
one another, and that often happens, they are permitted here to fight
it out, under the strictest control as regards fairness, but practically
without gloves at all. You heard of the accident, for instance, to
Norris? That happened in my gymnasium. He was knocked out by Burgin. It
was a wonderful fight.

"However, I pass on. There is another class