l.

Automatically he raised his arms, and for a few moments both men stood
motionless, staring perplexedly at one another. Then Mr. Coburn lowered
the pistol and attempted a laugh, a laugh nervous, shaky, and without
merriment. His lips smiled, but his eyes remained cold and venomous.

"Good heavens, Merriman, but you did give me a start," he cried, making
an evident effort to be jocular. "What in all the world are you doing
here at this hour? Sorry for my greeting, but one has to be careful
here. You know the district is notorious for brigands."

Merriman was not usually very prompt to meet emergencies. He generally
realized when it was too late what he ought to have said or done in
any given circumstances. But on this occasion a flash of veritable
inspiration revealed a way by which he might at one and the same time
account for his presence, disarm the manager's suspicions, and perhaps
even gain his point with regard to Madeleine. He smiled back at the
other.

"Sorry for startling you. Mr. Coburn. I have been looking for you for
some days to discuss a very delicate matter, and I came out late this
evening in the hope of attracting your attention after Miss Coburn
had retired, so that our chat could be quite confidential. But in the
darkness I fell and hurt my knee, and I spent so much time in waiting
for it to get better that I was ashamed to go to the house. Imagine my
delight when, just as I was turning to leave, I saw you coming down
to the shed, and I followed with the object of trying to attract your
attention."

He hardly expected that Mr. Coburn would have accepted his statement,
but whatever the manager believed privately, he gave no sign of
suspicion.

"I'm glad your journey was not fruitless," he answered courteously. "As
a matter of fact, my neuralgia kept me from sleeping, and I found I had
forgotten my bottle of aspirin down here, where I had brought it for the
same purpose this morning. It seemed worth the trouble of coming for it,
and I came."

As he spoke Mr. Coburn took from his pocket and held up for Merriman's
inspection a tiny phial half full of white tablets.

It was now Merriman's turn to be sceptical, but he murmured polite
regrets in as convincing a way as he was able. "Let us go back into my
office," the manager continued. "If you want a private chat you can have
it there."

He unlocked the door, and passing in first, lit a reading lamp on his
desk. Then relocking the door behind h