I consider that accounts are squared
between me and 'Double-Four' now. Let them know that. This sort of thing
isn't in my line."

"For an amateur," Antoine said, bowing low, "Monsieur commands my
heartfelt congratulations!"

CHAPTER VIII. Mrs. BOGNOR'S STAR BOARDER

In these days, the duties of Miss Brown as Peter Ruff's secretary had
become multifarious. Together with the transcribing of a vast number of
notes concerning cases, some of which he undertook and some of which he
refused, she had also to keep his cash book, a note of his investments
and a record of his social engagements. Notwithstanding all these
demands upon her time, however, there were occasions when she found
herself, of necessity, idle. In one of these she broached the subject
which had often been in her mind. They were alone, and not expecting
callers. Consequently, she sat upon the hearthrug and addressed her
employer by his Christian name.

"Peter," she said softly, "do you remember the night when you came
through the fog and burst into my little flat?"

"Quite well," he answered, "but it is a subject to which I prefer that
you do not allude."

"I will be careful," she answered. "I only spoke of it for this reason.
Before you left, when we were sitting together, you sketched out the
career which you proposed for yourself. In many respects, I suppose, you
have been highly successful, but I wonder if it has ever occurred to
you that your work has not proceeded upon the lines which you first
indicated?"

He nodded.

"I think I know what you mean," he said. "Go on."

"That night," she murmured softly, "you spoke as a hunted man; you
spoke as one at war with Society; you spoke as one who proposes almost
a campaign against it. When you took your rooms here and called yourself
Peter Ruff, it was rather in your mind to aid the criminal than to
detect the crime. Fate seems to have decreed otherwise. Why, I wonder?"

"Things have gone that way," Peter Ruff remarked.

"I will tell you why," she continued. "It is because, at the bottom
of your heart, there lurks a strong and unconquerable desire for
respectability. In your heart you are on the side of the law and
established things. You do not like crime; you do not like criminals.
You do not like the idea of associating with them. You prefer the
company of law-abiding people, even though their ways be narrow. It
was part of that sentiment, Peter, which led you to fall in love with a
coal-me