ock that night the pawnbroker sat with his friend Levi
discussing a bottle of champagne, which the open-eyed assistant had
procured from the public-house opposite.

"You're a lucky man, Hyams," said his friend, as he raised his glass to
his lips. "Thirty thousand pounds! It's a fortune, a small fortune," he
added correctively.

"I shall give this place up," said the pawnbroker, "and go away for a
time. I'm not safe here."

"Safe?" queried Levi, raising his eyebrows.

The pawnbroker related his adventures with his visitors.

"I can't understand that cat business," said Levi when he had finished.
"It's quite farcical; he must have poisoned it."

"He wasn't near it," said the pawnbroker, "it was at the other end of
the counter."

"Oh, hang it," said Levi, the more irritably because he could not think
of any solution to the mystery. "You don't believe in occult powers and
all that sort of thing. This is the neighborhood of the Commercial Road;
time, nineteenth century. The thing's got on your nerves. Keep your eyes
open, and stay indoors; they can't hurt you here. Why not tell the
police?"

"I don't want any questions," said the pawnbroker.

"I mean, just tell them that one or two suspicious characters have been
hanging round lately," said the other. "If this precious couple see that
they are watched they'll probably bolt. There's nothing like a uniform
to scare that sort."

"I won't have anything to do with the police," said the pawnbroker
firmly.

"Well, let Bob sleep on the premises," suggested his friend.

"I think I will to-morrow," said the other. "I'll have a bed fixed up
for him."

"Why not to-night?" asked Levi.

"He's gone," said the pawnbroker briefly. "Didn't you hear him shut
up?"

"He was in the shop five minutes ago," said Levi.

"He left at ten," said the pawnbroker.

"I'll swear I heard somebody only a minute or two back," said Levi,
staring.

"Nerves, as you remarked a little while ago," said his friend, with a
grin.

"Well, I thought I heard him," said Levi. "You might just secure the
door anyway."

The pawnbroker went to the door and made it fast, giving a careless
glance round the dimly lighted shop as he did so.

"Perhaps you could stay to-night yourself," he said, as he returned to
the sitting-room.

"I can't possibly, to-night," said the other. "By the way, you might
lend me a pistol of some kind. With all these cut-throats hanging round,
visiting you is a somewhat per