view, and I have just stated it. If we both respect that,
there will be no danger of our quarrelling."

He glanced at me for a moment in an odd way, and then said merely--

"Well, are you going to have another cigar, or would you like to go to
bed?"

"With your permission I shall go to bed," I said.

He conducted me through the hall and down the passage that led to the
back premises. At the end rose a steep and narrow stair. We ascended
this, and at the top found a narrow landing with a door at either end
of it.

"This is your private flat," he explained in a low voice. "The old
house, you will see, has been built in two separate instalments, which
have separate stairs and no communication with one another on the upper
landing. These two rooms are supposed to be locked up and not in use
at present, but I have secured their keys."

He unlocked one of the doors, and we entered the room. It was square,
and of quite a fair size. On two sides the walls sloped attic-wise, in
a third was a fireplace and a window, and in the fourth two doors--the
second opening into a large cupboard. This room had simple bedroom
furniture, and also a small table and a basket chair. When we entered,
it was lit only by a good fire, and pervaded by a pleasant aroma of
peat smoke. Tiel lighted a paraffin lamp and remarked--

"You ought to be quite comfortable here."

Personally, I confess that my breath was fairly taken away. I had
anticipated sleeping under the roof in some dark and chilly garret, or
perhaps in the straw of an outhouse.

"Comfortable!" I exclaimed. "Mein Gott, who would not be on secret
service! But are you sure all this is safe? This fire, for
instance--the smoke surely will be seen."

"I have promised to keep the bedrooms aired while I am staying here,"
smiled Tiel.

He then explained in detail the arrangements of our remarkable
household. He himself slept in the front part of the house, up the
other staircase. The room opposite mine was empty, and so was the room
underneath; but below the other was the kitchen, and I was warned to be
very quiet in my movements. The single servant arrived early in the
morning, and left about nine o'clock at night: she lived, it seemed, at
a neighbouring farm; and Tiel assured me there was nothing to be feared
from her provided I was reasonably careful.

I had brought with me a razor, a toothbrush, and a brush and comb, and
Tiel had very thoughtfully brought a spa