. They walked for two or
three hours and he was muddy and rather wet when the lights of a small
station began to twinkle in the gloom ahead.

Half an hour later they caught a train to Hexham, and Foster, who sent
Pete to a smoking compartment, was alone when he opened the packet John
had brought. Then the blood rushed to his face and his heart beat, for
when he unfolded the thin paper he saw a small white glove.
Remembering how they had once talked about Border chivalry, he knew
what Alice meant. She believed his tale and knew the risks he ran, and
had sent him her glove that he might carry it as her badge. He folded
the piece of delicate kid carefully and put it in a pocket where it
rested upon his heart.

"After this, I've got to put my job over, whatever it costs," he said.

XVI

A DIFFICULT PART

It was four o'clock in the afternoon when Foster stopped in front of
the grimy building where Graham had his office, and looked up and down
the street. Close by, a carter stood at the head of an impatient horse
that stamped and rattled its harness, and a hoist clanked as a bale of
goods went up to a top story; but except for this the street was quiet
Farther off, one or two moving figures showed indistinctly, for rain
was falling and the light getting dim. Foster, who had arrived in
Newcastle that morning, had waited, thinking it might suit him better
to leave the town in the dark.

"Go back to the end of the street, where you can see the clock," he
said to Pete. "If I don't join you in half an hour, run to the nearest
police station and ask for a man to search the top office in this
building."

"The polis are no' good friends o' mine," Pete replied doubtfully. "I
would sooner come for ye my lane. There's an airnmonger's roon' the
corner, where I would maybe get a shairp gairden fork."

Foster laughed. Pete's methods were too primitive, although, in his
strong hands, the fork would prove a dangerous weapon.

"I don't expect you'd be able to help much if I'm not back when I said.
But you can walk along the street now and then, and notice anybody who
leaves the building."

He went in and set his lips as he climbed the stairs, for he imagined
he would need all the tact and coolness he possessed. He had been made
the tool of people who thought him an unsuspecting simpleton, but was
uncertain how far it would be safe to trade upon this view of his
character, although he meant to do so to some extent