s I found myself taking a liking to him. He was so
intense and so--frightened. "There _was_ a man," I said.

He leaped to his feet and clutched my coat. I believe he would have
tried to shake me had I not been a foot taller and fully fifty pounds
heavier than he. "What man!"

[Illustration]

"In the library. He indicated that book and said something to me."

He leaped onto the chair in his excitement and grasped my shoulders with
his hands. We stood thus eye to eye. "Please!" he begged. "Try to
remember! What did he say?"

"Perhaps you had better tell me what this is all about, Mr...?"

"Rumplestein. However, believe me, Professor Clarke, it is much better
if you do _not_ know."

I shook my head, displaying what my colleagues occasionally call a
streak of stubbornness. "You have upset me considerably. I feel I am due
some explanation."

"No! No! No!" He shook his little head vigorously each time.

"Then I cannot recollect what this man said to me."

He groaned in dismay and stepped off the chair to the floor. "Very
well," he said, finally. "You force me to reveal this." I waited
patiently. His head snapped erect. His body stiffened. "I am engaged in
a highly secret mission, the purpose of which is to prevent the collapse
of this city."

I frowned. "You're not serious, of course."

"I have never been more serious in my life!"

"_Quem Jupiter vult perdere, dementat prius._"

"What?"

"Whom Jupiter wishes to ruin, he first drives mad," I said.

"You think I'm crazy?"

I didn't like the gleam in his eye and the tightly pressed lips. I
hastily decided I was better off with him gone. These little people, I
am told, can sometimes get extremely violent.

"I most certainly do," I said, "but that is none of my affair. I will
tell you what that man said and then I would appreciate your popping out
of my life as you so unceremoniously popped into it."

"What did he say?" He leaned forward waiting, it would seem, as if the
fate of the world hung in the balance.

"Eight-thirty tonight. You know the place."

The little man studied the paper, repeating the words. Then he emitted a
shriek of ecstasy. "That's it! Now the message is clear! Thank you,
Professor Clarke. You have performed a duty towards society and your
city." He fled down the hall. I heard the front door slam and returned
to my work with a sigh of relief.

* * * * *

About eleven o'clock the same evening, weary i