cal golfer, nor did he appear at all the sort of
person who might be expected to reserve a whole compartment for himself.
He was small and thin, and weedy, with little blinking, pink-rimmed eyes
of the kind which ought to have had white lashes instead of the sparse,
jet black ones that rimmed them. His forehead, though narrow, suggested
shrewdness, as did the expression of those light coloured eyes of his,
which were set close to the sharp, slightly up-turned nose. His hair was
so black that it made his skin seem singularly pallid, though it was
only sallow; and a mean, rabbit mouth worked nervously over two
prominent teeth. Though his clothes were good, and new, they had the air
of having been bought ready made; and in spite of his would-be "smart"
get up, the man (who might have been anywhere between thirty and
thirty-eight) looked somewhat like an ex-groom, or bookmaker,
masquerading as a "swell."

The two intruders who had violated the sanctity of the reserved
compartment by means of their railway key were both bigger and more
manly than he who had a right to it. One was dark, and probably Jewish,
with a heavy beard and moustache, in the midst of which his sensual and
cruel mouth pouted disagreeably red. The other was puffy and flushed,
with a brick-coloured complexion deeply pitted by smallpox. They also
were flashily dressed with "horsey" neckties and conspicuous scarf-pins.
As I glanced at the pair, they were talking together in a low voice,
with an open newspaper held up between them; but the man who had helped
me in against their will sat silent, staring out of the window and
uneasily fingering his collar. Not one of the trio was, apparently,
paying the slightest attention to me, now that I was seated;
nevertheless I thought of the large, long letter-case which I carried in
an inner breast pocket of my carefully buttoned coat. I would not
attract attention to the contents of that pocket by touching it, to
assure myself that it was safe, but I had done so just before meeting
Di, and I felt certain that nothing could have happened to it since.

I folded my arms across my chest, glanced up to see where the cord of
communication might be found in case of emergency; and then reflected
that these men were not likely to be dangerous, since I had followed
them into the compartment, not they me. This thought was reassuring, as
they were three to one if they combined against me, and the train was,
unfortunately, not ent