ring myself up to face a danger which a less-nervous man
might shrink from. What I am doing now is done from no compulsion, but
entirely from a sense of duty, and yet it is, beyond doubt, a desperate
risk. If things should go wrong, I will have some claims to the title
of martyr."

This eternal reading of riddles was too much for me. I felt that I
must put a term to it.

"I think it would very much better, sir, if you were to trust me
entirely," said I. "It is impossible for me to act effectively, when I
do not know what are the objects which we have in view, or even where
we are going."

"Oh, as to where we are going, there need be no mystery about that,"
said he; "we are going to Delamere Court, the residence of Sir Thomas
Rossiter, with whose work you are so conversant. As to the exact
object of our visit, I do not know that at this stage of the
proceedings anything would be gained, Dr. Hamilton, by taking you into
my complete confidence. I may tell you that we are acting--I say 'we,'
because my sister, Lady Rossiter, takes the same view as myself--with
the one object of preventing anything in the nature of a family
scandal. That being so, you can understand that I am loath to give any
explanations which are not absolutely necessary. It would be a
different matter, Dr. Hamilton, if I were asking your advice. As
matters stand, it is only your active help which I need, and I will
indicate to you from time to time how you can best give it."

There was nothing more to be said, and a poor man can put up with a
good deal for twenty pounds a day, but I felt none the less that Lord
Linchmere was acting rather scurvily towards me. He wished to convert
me into a passive tool, like the blackthorn in his hand. With his
sensitive disposition I could imagine, however, that scandal would be
abhorrent to him, and I realized that he would not take me into his
confidence until no other course was open to him. I must trust to my
own eyes and ears to solve the mystery, but I had every confidence that
I should not trust to them in vain.

Delamere Court lies a good five miles from Pangbourne Station, and we
drove for that distance in an open fly. Lord Linchmere sat in deep
thought during the time, and he never opened his mouth until we were
close to our destination. When he did speak it was to give me a piece
of information which surprised me.

"Perhaps you are not aware," said he, "that I am a medical man like
yours