merchant if you can't get the right dope for the right
case."

"The less you say about my doping, the better," snarled the other man.
"I was a fool to take you so much into my confidence."

"Don't lose your temper," said the other, raising his hand in mock
alarm. "Lord bless us, Mr. Wright or Robinson, who would have thought
that the nice, mild-mannered young man who goes to church in Eastbourne
could be such a fierce chap in London? I've often laughed, seeing you
walk past me as though butter wouldn't melt in your mouth and everybody
saying what a nice young man Mr. So-and-so is, and I have thought, if
they only knew that this sleek lad--"

"Shut up!" said the other savagely. "You are getting as much of a
danger as this infernal girl."

"You take things too much to heart," said the other. "Now I'll tell you
what I'll do. I am not going out of England. I am going to keep my
present menial job. You see, it isn't only the question of money, but I
have an idea that your old man has got something up his sleeve for me,
and the only way to prevent unpleasant happenings is to keep close to
him."

"I have told you a dozen times he has nothing against you," said the
other emphatically. "I know his business, and I have seen most of his
private papers. If he could have caught you with the goods, he would
have had you long ago. I told you that the last time you called at the
house and I saw you. What! Do you think John Minute would pay blackmail
if he could get out of it? You are a fool!"

"Maybe I am," said the other philosophically, "but I am not such a fool
as you think me to be."

"You had better see her," said his host suddenly.

Crawley shook his head.

"A parent's feelings," he protested, "have a sense of decency, Reginald
or Horace or Hector; I always forget your London name. No," he said, "I
won't accept your suggestion, but I have got a proposition to make to
you, and it concerns a certain relative of John Minute--a nice, young
fellow who will one day secure the old man's swag."

"Will he?" said the other between his teeth.

They sat for two hours discussing the proposition, and then Crawley rose
to leave.

"I leave my final jar for the last," he said pleasantly. He had finished
the contents of the flask, and was in a very amiable frame of mind.

"You are in some danger, my young friend, and I, your guardian angel,
have discovered it. You have a valet at one of your numerous addresses."

"A chauffeur," c