.

Hidden among the undergrowth at some distance from the house stood a
small, partly ruined stone building, used once, from the water flowing
nearby, as a spring house. The driver carried Randall to the interior of
this building and placed him on the floor. Lighting a match, he glanced
around.

The unfinished walls were mottled with the melancholy vegetation which
takes hold in places where the sun is forbidden. Drops of water oozed
from the stones. The earth yielded to the pressure of feet soggily.

The man raised his hat higher on his forehead and lowered his coat
collar, exposing a face that was handsome in a weak and flippant way. He
grinned rather foolishly now at his victim, outstretched on the damp
floor. He swayed a trifle, steadied himself with an effort, then, as the
glow of the match expired, bent over and thrust his hand in Randall's
pocket.

He drew out a key ring. He struck another match and ran quickly over the
ring until he had found the key he desired. This he slipped from the
ring into his own pocket and returned the rest to Randall's coat.

On the point of leaving, he hesitated, and with a resolute air stooped
and removed the cloth from Randall's head and the cord from the body.
Afterwards he took a small bottle from his pocket, forced the
unconscious man's lips open and poured a quantity of the fluid down his
throat. Evidently the doctor would sleep thoroughly and for a long time.

When he had gathered up the cloth, the rope, and the bottle, the man
left the stone building, laughing with a satisfaction that was not
wholly vicious. In spite of the anger his face had displayed the
situation for him possessed at least a tiny element of humour.

He secreted the compromising bundle beneath a large stone in the bed of
the stream.

"Put it over," he muttered. "People'll say the old boy was off his head
or's a reason why we had to have prohibition."

His lurch was more pronounced as he walked to the car, and his manner
less confident as he drove on to the house.

He alighted and, steadying himself against the mud-guard, gazed at the
dark, forbidding facade in which that diffused and indeterminate
radiance alone suggested habitation.

After a time he straightened, climbed the steps, and crossed the
verandah. He felt in his pocket for the latch-key he had taken from
Randall, inserted it in the lock, and noiselessly opened the door. He
was very careful to see that the door did not latch behind him