hes for my safe
passage, and assured me that he would keep me fully informed of the
state of my affairs on this side.

"Engagement!" I exclaimed. "Is he going to drive with her again
to-morrow?"

My steamer sailed at two o'clock the next day, and after an early
breakfast I went to the company's office to see if I could dispose of
my ticket. It had become impossible, I told the agent, for me to leave
America at present. He said it was a very late hour to sell my ticket,
but that he would do what he could, and if an applicant turned up he
would give him my room and refund the money. He wanted me to change to
another date, but I declined to do this. I was not able to say when I
should sail.

I now had no plan of action. All I knew was that I could not leave
America without finding out something definite about this Barker
business. That is to say, if it should be made known to me that
instead of attending to my business, sending a carpenter to make
repairs, if such were necessary, or going personally to the plumber to
make sure that that erratic personage would give his attention to any
pipes in regard to which Mr. Vincent might have written, Barker should
mingle in sociable relations with my tenants, and drive or play tennis
with the young lady of the house, then would I immediately have done
with him. I would withdraw my business from his hands and place it in
those of old Mr. Poindexter. More than that, it might be my duty to
warn Miss Vincent's parents against Barker. I did not doubt that he
was a very good house and land-agent, but in selecting him as such I
had no idea of introducing him to the Vincents in a social way. In
fact, the more I thought about it the more I became convinced that if
ever I mentioned Barker to my tenants it would be to warn them against
him. From certain points of view he was actually a dangerous man.

This, however, I would not do until I found my agent was really
culpable. To discover what Barker had done, what he was doing, and
what he intended to do, was now my only business in life. Until I had
satisfied myself on these points I could not think of starting out upon
my travels.

Now that I had determined I would not start for Europe until I had
satisfied myself that Mr. Barker was contenting himself with attending
to my business, and not endeavoring to force himself into social
relations with my tenants, I was anxious that the postponement of my
journey should be unkno