tree with William Adolphus beside me. William Adolphus was quite calm
and unruffled. I can hardly say with truthfulness what I was. On the
contrary, I admit that I felt considerably upset.

The dog was sitting on his haunches on the ground below, watching us,
and it was quite plain to be seen, from his leisurely manner, that it
was not his busy day. He bared his teeth and growled when he caught my
eye.

"You LOOK like a woman hater's dog," I told him. I meant it for an
insult; but the beast took it for a compliment.

Then I set myself to solving the question, "How am I to get out of this
predicament?"

It did not seem easy to solve it.

"Shall I scream, William Adolphus?" I demanded of that intelligent
animal. William Adolphus shook his head. This is a fact. And I agreed
with him.

"No, I shall not scream, William Adolphus," I said. "There is probably
no one to hear me except Alexander Abraham, and I have my painful doubts
about his tender mercies. Now, it is impossible to go down. Is it, then,
William Adolphus, possible to go up?"

I looked up. Just above my head was an open window with a tolerably
stout branch extending right across it.

"Shall we try that way, William Adolphus?" I asked.

William Adolphus, wasting no words, began to climb the tree. I followed
his example. The dog ran in circles about the tree and looked things
not lawful to be uttered. It probably would have been a relief to him to
bark if it hadn't been so against his principles.

I got in by the window easily enough, and found myself in a bedroom the
like of which for disorder and dust and general awfulness I had never
seen in all my life. But I did not pause to take in details. With
William Adolphus under my arm I marched downstairs, fervently hoping I
should meet no one on the way.

I did not. The hall below was empty and dusty. I opened the first door
I came to and walked boldly in. A man was sitting by the window, looking
moodily out. I should have known him for Alexander Abraham anywhere. He
had just the same uncared-for, ragged appearance that the house had; and
yet, like the house, it seemed that he would not be bad looking if
he were trimmed up a little. His hair looked as if it had never been
combed, and his whiskers were wild in the extreme.

He looked at me with blank amazement in his countenance.

"Where is Jimmy Spencer?" I demanded. "I have come to see him."

"How did he ever let you in?" asked the man, staring at me