lip down and open that gate,
will you?"

He gesticulated towards a six-foot gate at the side of the house. From
my position in the car I could see that it opened on a path that ran
round the side of the building and almost certainly led to the garage.
Accordingly I slipped out on the road, walked up to the gate and found
that, by standing on tip-toe, I could just reach the catch at the top. I
swung it back, pushed with my weight against the erection and the gate
came open.

As I turned to come back to the car I caught sight of a man standing on
the opposite corner. He was engaged in lighting a cigarette in the cup
of his hands. He seemed to be taking an undue time over it, and that and
something that I could not put a name to in his attitude convinced me
that he was watching us. His hands were so cupped that they hid his
face, but I received an impression, that was almost a certainty, that he
was watching Bryce and myself through his fingers. Perhaps my prolonged
stare convinced him that I was fully aware of his presence and its
meaning. At any rate he twisted on his heel so that his back was turned
to us, dropped the match he had been playing with and ostentatiously
struck another.

"That gentleman across the road, the one with his back to us, is keeping
your house under surveillance," I said to Bryce. "I suppose he's afraid
the place'll run away."

"Afraid I'll run away, more likely," Bryce answered. "Evidently he
doesn't want to be identified next time we meet. But he needn't worry
over that; I wouldn't know him from a bar of soap. We'll leave him alone
for the time being, Carstairs, and get this machine in. I don't see any
reason why we should let this gentleman delay our dinner."

"No more do I. Let her out."

I stood on the step of the car until it had passed the entrance in
safety, then I went back and made the gate fast. But before doing so I
just couldn't resist taking a peep at the Roman sentry figure of a man
opposite. He was staring straight at the gate--as if that was going to
help him in any way--but he was pretty alert. The moment he sighted me
he wheeled about and walked off in another direction. But, quick and all
as he was, I caught a passing glimpse of him. He had on a blue serge
suit, a rather cheap affair as well as I could judge at that distance,
and a black felt hat. Somehow I got the impression, though I was too far
away to say anything with certainty, that he was not so much sallow as
su