onument.
Before nine o'clock to-night you will see me cross the churchyard, as
far as this place, with the man you are to wait for. He is going to
spend an hour with the vicar, at the house yonder. I shall stop short
here, and say to him, 'You can't miss your way in the dark now--I will
go back.' When I am far enough away from him, I shall blow a call on
my whistle. The moment you hear the call, follow the man, and drop him
before he gets out of the church-yard. Have you got your cudgel?"

Thomas Wildfang held up his cudgel. Turlington took him by the arm, and
felt it suspiciously.

"You have had an attack of the horrors already," he said. "What does
this trembling mean?"

He took a spirit-flask from his pocket as he spoke. Thomas Wildfang
snatched it out of his hand, and emptied it at a draught. "All right
now, master," he said. Turlington felt his arm once more. It was
steadier already. Wildfang brandished his cudgel, and struck a heavy
blow with it on one of the turf mounds near them. "Will that drop him,
captain?" he asked.

Turlington went on with his instructions.

"Rob him when you have dropped him. Take his money and his jewelry. I
want to have the killing of him attributed to robbery as the motive.
Make sure before you leave him that he is dead. Then go to the
malt-house. There is no fear of your being seen; all the people will be
indoors, keeping Christmas-eve. You will find a change of clothes hidden
in the malt-house, and an old caldron full of quicklime. Destroy the
clothes you have got on, and dress yourself in the other clothes
that you find. Follow the cross-road, and when it brings you into the
highroad, turn to the left; a four-mile walk will take you to the town
of Harminster. Sleep there to-night, and travel to London by the train
in the morning. The next day go to my office, see the head clerk, and
say, 'I have come to sign my receipt.' Sign it in your own name, and you
will receive your hundred pounds. There are your instructions. Do you
understand them?"

Wildfang nodded his head in silent token that he understood, and
disappeared again among the graves. Turlington went back to the house.

He had advanced midway across the garden, when he was startled by the
sound of footsteps in the lane--at that part of it which skirted one of
the corners of the house. Hastening forward, he placed himself behind a
projection in the wall, so as to see the person pass across the stream
of light from the u