r. Even with the moon
to help her she could see nothing very distinctly, but it was obviously
a man who was standing there, and he appeared to be a well-dressed man.
She at once decided that he was a guest on his way to one of the other
bungalows, and that he had called on her by mistake. Having come to this
totally erroneous conclusion, she opened the door.

The visitor stood in the light now, and there was nothing about him to
cause her perturbation. He was a tall man, about thirty years of age,
with a short yellow beard and trustful, melancholy blue eyes. He wore a
grey lounge suit and patent leather shoes, and he carried in his hand a
very small brown bag.

"Miss Markham?" he said, raising his hat.

"I am Miss Markham."

"I really must apologise for disturbing you at this time of night. The
fact of the case is that you live in a lonely spot; I wish to inquire if
you are insured against burglary."

Miss Markham was rather amused by the impertinence of him. It was all
very well for an insurance-office tout to call upon her to get her to
take out a policy, but it did seem a little bit too much that he should
call at so late an hour. If Miss Markham had not liked the man's
appearance, she would have been even more severe than she was.

"I am afraid," she said, "that you have troubled yourself, and
incidentally have troubled me, to no purpose. I am already insured
against burglary, fire, employers' liabilities, and all the rest of it,
and I am not proposing to take out any further policy."

"I am so glad," said the stranger, and in a flash stepped into the hall,
and shut the door behind him.

"What are you doing?" said Miss Markham. "You must not come in here like
that. Go away at once!"

"I know, my dear lady, it is quite unconventional and wrong, and I can
only assure you if you had not been insured against burglary I should
never have come in. You may believe me that in the exercise of my
profession, I have always done my best to consult the feelings of
others."

"Your profession! What profession?"

"We won't give it a name. 'What's in a name?' Some of my confreres are
rough and violent; I am nothing of the kind. Naturally if you began to
make a noise, I should have to take some steps to prevent it. The police
in this neighbourhood are few in number and quite inefficient, and I
think there is no other bungalow within a quarter of a mile."

Miss Markham was now alive to the state of the case.

"I think