ent!' Sir Harry jumped up from his chair with an
angry look, and a sharp ejaculation, neither of which disturbed his
visitor. With his red bandanna handkerchief spread on his knees, and his
straw hat resting on the handkerchief, Baltic looked at his flushed host
calmly and solemnly without moving a muscle, or even winking an eye.
Brace did not know whether to treat the ex-sailor as a madman or as an
impudent impostor. The situation was almost embarrassing.

'What do you mean, sir,' he asked angrily, 'by coming to me with a
cock-and-bull story about your conversion, and then telling me that you
are a private inquiry agent, which is little less than a spy?'

'Is it impossible for such a one to be a Christian, Sir Harry?'

'I should think so. One who earns his living by sneaking can scarcely
act up to the ethics of the Gospels.'

'I don't earn my living by sneaking,' replied Baltic, coolly. 'If I did,
I shouldn't explain my business to you as I have done--as I am doing. My
work is honourable enough, sir, for I am ranged against evil-doers, and
it is my duty to bring their works to naught. There is no need for me to
defend my profession to anyone but you, Sir Harry, as no one but
yourself, and perhaps two other people, know what I really am.'

'They shall know it,' spoke Sir Harry, hastily. 'All Beorminster shall
know of it. We don't care for wolves in sheep's clothing here.'

'Better be sure that I am a wolf before you talk rashly,' said Baltic,
in no wise disturbed. 'I came here to speak to you openly, because you
saved my life, and that debt I wish to square. And let me tell you,
sir, that it isn't Christianity, or even justice, to hear one side of
the question and not the other.'

Harry looked puzzled. 'You are an enigma to me, Baltic.'

'I am here to explain myself, sir. As your hand dashed aside the knife
of that Kanaka you have a claim on my confidence. You'll be a sad man
and a glad man when you hear my story, sir.'

Harry resumed his seat, shrugged his shoulders, and took a leisurely
look at his self-possessed visitor. 'Sad and glad are contradictory
terms, my friend,' said he, carelessly. 'I would rather you explained
riddles than propounded them.'

'Sir Harry! Sir Harry! it is the riddle of man's life upon this earth
that I am trying to explain.'

'You have set yourself a hard task, Baltic, for so far as I can see,
there is no reading of that riddle.'

'Save by the light of the Gospel, sir, which mak