ou serious? Did
Furneaux really say he was coming here?"

"He did, and more--he expressed a partiality for a chicken roasted on a
spit. You have a spit in your kitchen, he says, and a pair of chickens in
your larder."

"How did you contrive to meet him?"

"You're a poor guesser, Jack. _He_ met _me_. 'That you, Mr. Hart?' he
said. 'Mr. Grant's house is the first on the right across the bridge.
Tell him'--and the rest of it."

"Have you warned Mrs. Bates?"

"Mrs. Bates being?"

"My housekeeper."

"No, sir. If she's anything like your housemaid, I'm glad I didn't, or
I should have been chucked into the road. I had the deuce of a job to
reach the lawn. Had I ordered dinner I might now have been in the
village lockup."

Grant hurried away, and placated Mrs. Bates after a stormy
interlude. Precisely at 7.30 p. m. Minnie came and said that "Mr.
Hawkshaw" had arrived.

"Bring him out here," said Grant. "Fetch some sherry and glasses, and
give us five minutes' notice before dinner is served."

"Please, sir," tittered Minnie, "the gentleman prefers to stay indoors.
He said his complexion won't stand the glare."

"Very well," smiled Grant, rising. "Put the sherry and bitters on the
sideboard."

"Say," murmured Hart, "is this chap really a detective?"

"Yes. He stands high at Scotland Yard."

"Never more than five feet four, I'll swear. But I wouldn't have missed
this for a pension. I have a revolver in my hip pocket, of course. One
would feel lonely without it, even in England. But I hope you can stage a
few knives and daggers, and a red light. I can cut masks out of a strip
of black velvet. That girl will have a piece stowed away somewhere."

The two entered the dining-room study, where the table was now laid for
dinner. Furneaux was seated on the edge of a chair in the darkest
corner. His eyes gleamed at them strangely.

"Can you trust Bates?" he said to Grant.

It was a wholly unexpected question, and Grant answered sharply:

"Of course, I can."

"Tell him to make sure that no one trespasses on your lawn between now
and ten o'clock. Close that window, draw the blind and curtains, and
block that small window, the one through which you saw the ghost."

"Ye gods!" cackled Hart ecstatically.

"Why all these precautions?" demanded Grant, rather amused now.

"I'm supposed to be on the very verge of arresting you, and it would
weaken the faith of my allies if I were seen drinking your wines and
eating you