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I said. With a big, happy laugh Tommy followed my example. Then he came up again and caught me by the arm, as though to make sure that I was still there. "Neil, old son," he said, "I'm so glad to see you that I shall start wrecking the blessed studio in a minute. For God's sake tell me what it all means." "Sit down, then," I said; "sit down and give me a chance. It's--it's a hell of a yarn, Tommy." He laughed again, and letting go my arm threw himself back into the easy-chair. "It would be," he said. I always have a feeling that I can talk better when I am on my feet, and so, while Tommy sat there puffing out great clouds of smoke from a huge cherry-wood pipe, I paced slowly up and down the room giving him my story. Like Joyce, he listened to me without saying a word or interrupting me in any way. I told him everything that had happened from the moment when I had escaped from prison to the time when I had given my promise that I would come and look him up. "I couldn't help it, Tommy," I finished. "I didn't want to drag you in, but you know what Joyce is when she has once made up her mind about anything. I thought the only way was to come and see you. Between us--" I got no further, for with a sudden exclamation--it sounded more like a growl than anything else--Tommy had risen from his chair. "And do you mean to tell me that, if it hadn't been for Joyce, you wouldn't have come! By Gad, Neil, if I wasn't so glad to see you I'd--I'd--" Words failed him, and gripping hold of my hands again he wrung them with a force that made me wince. Then, suddenly dropping them, he started to stride about the room. "Lord, what a yarn!" he exclaimed. "What a hell of a yarn!" "Well, I told you it was," I said, nursing my crushed fingers. "I knew something had happened. I knew at least that you weren't going to be taken alive; but this--" He stopped short in front of me and once more gazed incredulously into my face. "I wouldn't know you from the Angel Gabriel!" he added. "Except that he's clean shaven," I said. Then I paused. "Look here, Tommy," I went on seriously, "what are we going to do about Joyce? I'm all right, you see. There's nothing to prevent me clearing out of the country directly I've finished with McMurtrie. If I choose to go and break George's neck, that's my own business. I am not going to have you and Joyce mixed up in the affair." Tommy sat down on the edge of the table. "My dear chap,"
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