enough.'

"'Well, _I_ haven't,' said he, and fixed a stare on me.
'Oh, I see what you mean. I'm drunk. . . . It's no use your
pretending,' he caught me up argumentatively. 'I've taken too much
t'drink. Tiring day. Hope you're not a prude?'

"'Well then,' I confessed, 'it did strike me you were punishing the
other fellow a bit too fast in the opening rounds. But you walked
over to your corner, just now, steady as a soldier--'

"'Peculiarity of mine,' he explained. 'Ought t'have warned you.
Takes me in head, long before legs. Do you a sprint down the
street--even money--when we're outside. . . . Wha's this? Oh, the
bill. . . . Thought it was more spaghetti. . . . Yes, I know. . . .
Custom of house . . . pay the signora in the brass cage. My dear
sir, if you'll 'scuse fam'liarity--'

"'Right,' said I, as he dived a hand into his pocket and fetched out
a fistful of coin. 'Here's half-a-crown for Giovanni--he will now
run along and poison somebody else. This being your show, I further
abstract two sovereigns for the bill. I shall, I perceive, have to
hand you ninepence in cash with the receipt. . . . But since you are
intoxicated and I am what in any less sepulchral caravanserai might
be described as merry, let us order our retreat with military
precision. First, then, I fetch you yonder magnificent garment which
has been drawing revolutionary hatred upon us ever since we
entered . . .'

"'It was a present from Maria,' he said, as I helped him into it.
'Her last. She said it was a real sable.'

"'She spoke truthfully,' I assured him. 'Now gather up these light
articles and steer for the door as accurately as you can, while I
gather up my inexpensive paletot and pay at the desk.'

"'If I had my way with this blasted restarong,' he observed with
sudden venom,' I'd raze it to the ground!'

"I walked over to the desk. I was right in supposing that ninepence
was the sum I should receive from the Esmeralda behind the brass
barrier. But her eyes were bright and interrogated me: the brass
trellis between us shone also with an unnatural lustre: I was dealing
with another man's money, and it seemed incumbent on me to count the
change twice, with care.

"While I was thus engaged, Farrell went past me for the door with the
shuffle and hard breathing of an elephant pursued by a forest fire.

"'Hurry!' he gasped.

"'What is it?' I demanded, catching him up on the fifth stair.

"He panted. 'I couldn't hel