rombie Smith curtly. "But
either you are saying a great deal too much or a great deal too little."

"I give you a warning."

"If there is real reason for warning, no promise can bind you. If I
see a rascal about to blow a place up with dynamite no pledge will
stand in my way of preventing him."

"Ah, but I cannot prevent him, and I can do nothing but warn you."

"Without saying what you warn me against."

"Against Bellingham."

"But that is childish. Why should I fear him, or any man?"

"I can't tell you. I can only entreat you to change your rooms. You
are in danger where you are. I don't even say that Bellingham would
wish to injure you. But it might happen, for he is a dangerous
neighbour just now."

"Perhaps I know more than you think," said Smith, looking keenly at the
young man's boyish, earnest face. "Suppose I tell you that some one
else shares Bellingham's rooms."

Monkhouse Lee sprang from his chair in uncontrollable excitement.

"You know, then?" he gasped.

"A woman."

Lee dropped back again with a groan.

"My lips are sealed," he said. "I must not speak."

"Well, anyhow," said Smith, rising, "it is not likely that I should
allow myself to be frightened out of rooms which suit me very nicely.
It would be a little too feeble for me to move out all my goods and
chattels because you say that Bellingham might in some unexplained way
do me an injury. I think that I'll just take my chance, and stay where
I am, and as I see that it's nearly five o'clock, I must ask you to
excuse me."

He bade the young student adieu in a few curt words, and made his way
homeward through the sweet spring evening feeling half-ruffled,
half-amused, as any other strong, unimaginative man might who has been
menaced by a vague and shadowy danger.

There was one little indulgence which Abercrombie Smith always allowed
himself, however closely his work might press upon him. Twice a week,
on the Tuesday and the Friday, it was his invariable custom to walk
over to Farlingford, the residence of Dr. Plumptree Peterson, situated
about a mile and a half out of Oxford. Peterson had been a close
friend of Smith's elder brother Francis, and as he was a bachelor,
fairly well-to-do, with a good cellar and a better library, his house
was a pleasant goal for a man who was in need of a brisk walk. Twice a
week, then, the medical student would swing out there along the dark
country roads, and spend a pleasant hour in Pet