tside.
He wondered whether it was a servant and whether he would see that one
of the windows was unshuttered. He had half a mind to investigate, when
there came another sound--a lumbering foot in the passage. Suddenly the
door was opened, the lights were flashed on, and the man behind the
settee hugged the floor and held his breath.

* * * * *

"How much do I want?"

Pinto laughed and lit a cigarette.

"My dear Mr. Crotin, I really don't know what you mean."

"Let's have no more foolery," said the Yorkshireman roughly. "I know
that you've come up from Colonel Boundary and I know what you've come
for. You want to buy my mill, eh? Well, I'll make it worth your while
not to buy my mill. You can take the money instead."

"I really am honest when I tell you that I don't understand what you are
talking about. I have certainly come up to buy a mill--that is true. It
is also true that I want to buy your mill."

"And what might you be thinking of paying for it?" asked Crotin between
his teeth.

"Twenty thousand pounds," said Pinto nonchalantly.

"Twenty thousand, eh? It was thirty thousand the last time. You'll want
me to give it to you soon. Nay, nay, my friend, I'll pay, but not in
mills."

"Think of the poor," murmured Pinto.

"I'm thinking of them," said the other. "I'm thinking of the poor woman
in Wales, too, and the poor woman in there." He jerked his head. Then,
in a calmer tone: "I guessed at dinner where you came from. Colonel
Boundary sent you."

Pinto shrugged.

"Let us mention no names," he said politely. "And who is Colonel
Boundary, anyway?"

Crotin was at his desk now. He had taken out his cheque-book and slapped
it down upon the writing-pad.

"You've got me proper," he said, and his voice quavered. "I'll make an
offer to you. I'll give you fifty thousand pounds if you write an
agreement that you will not molest or bother me again."

There was a silence, and the soldier crouched behind the settee,
listening intently. He heard Pinto laugh softly as one who is greatly
amused.

"That, my good friend," said Pinto, "would be blackmail. You don't
imagine that I would be guilty of such an iniquity? I know nothing about
your past; I merely suggest that you should sell me one of your mills at
a reasonable price."

"Twenty thousand pounds is reasonable for you, I suppose," said Crotin
sarcastically.

"It is a lot of money," replied Pinto.

The Yorkshireman pulled