oked at his watch. "As far as I remember, you went to sleep
in your bath soon after midnight. It's now four o'clock in the
afternoon."

I started up in bed. "Four o'clock!" I exclaimed. "Good Lord! I must
get up--I--"

He laid his hand on my shoulder. "Don't be foolish, my friend," he
said. "You will get up when you are fit to get up. At the present
moment you are going to have something to eat." He turned to the girl.
"What are you thinking of giving him?" he asked.

"There are plenty of eggs," she said, "and there's some of that fish
we had for breakfast." She answered curtly, almost rudely, looking at
me while she spoke. Her manner gave me the impression that for some
reason or other she and McMurtrie were not exactly on the best of
terms.

If that was so, he himself betrayed no sign of it. "Either will do
excellently," he said in his usual suave way, "or perhaps our
young friend could manage both. I believe the Dartmoor air is most
stimulating."

"I shall be vastly grateful for anything," I said, addressing the
girl. "Whatever is the least trouble to cook."

She nodded and left the room without further remark--McMurtrie looking
after her with what seemed like a faint gleam of malicious amusement.

"I have brought you yesterday's _Daily Mail_," he said; "I thought it
would amuse you to read the description of your escape. It is quite
entertaining; and besides that there is a masterly little summary of
your distinguished career prior to its unfortunate interruption." He
laid the paper on the bed. "First of all, though," he added, "I will
just look you over. I couldn't find much the matter with you last
night, but we may as well make certain."

He made a short examination of my throat, and then, after feeling my
pulse, tapped me vigorously all over the chest.

"Well," he said finally, "you have been through enough to kill two
ordinary men, but except for giving you a slight cold in the head it
seems to have done you good."

I sat up in bed. "Dr. McMurtrie," I said bluntly, "what does all this
mean? Who are you, and why are you hiding me from the police?"

He looked down on me, with that curious baffling smile of his. "A
natural and healthy curiosity, Mr. Lyndon," he said drily. "I hope
to satisfy it after you have had something to eat. Till then--" he
shrugged his shoulders--"well, I think you will find the _Daily Mail_
excellent company."

He left the room, closing the door behind him, and for a moment