ot. I'm getting round all right now," I assured him. "I got
into a bit of a scrimmage, and then into prison. They very nearly did
for me there; but I guess I've as many lives as a cat."

"But this murder charge? It's in the papers this morning; look here."

He held out a copy of _The Courier_, pointing to a column headed:

"THE WESTMINSTER MURDER.
ARREST OF A WELL-KNOWN JOURNALIST,"

and further down I saw among the cross-headings:

"_Romantic Circumstances._"

"Half a minute; let's have a look," I exclaimed, snatching the paper,
fearing lest under that particular cross-heading there might be some
allusion to Anne, or the portrait. But there was not; the "romantic
circumstances" were merely those under which the arrest was effected.
Whoever had written it,--Southbourne himself probably,--had laid it on
pretty thick about the special correspondents of _The Courier_ obtaining
"at the risk of their lives the exclusive information on which the
public had learned to rely," and a lot more rot of that kind, together
with a highly complimentary _precis_ of my career, and a hint that
before long a full account of my thrilling experiences would be
published exclusively in _The Courier_. Southbourne never lost a chance
of advertisement.

The article ended with the announcement: "Sir George Lucas has
undertaken the defence, and Mr. Wynn is, of course, prepared with a full
answer to the charge."

"Well, that seems all right, doesn't it?" I asked coolly.

"All right?" spluttered Jim, who was more upset than I'd ever seen him.
"You seem to regard being run in for murder as an everyday occurrence!"

"Well, it's preferable to being in prison in Russia! If Freeman hadn't
taken it into his thick head to fix on me, I should have been dead and
gone to glory by this time. Look here, Jim, there's nothing to worry
about, really. I asked Freeman to wire or 'phone to you yesterday when
we arrived, thinking, of course, you'd be at Chelsea; then Southbourne
turned up, and was awfully good. He's arranged for my defence, so
there's nothing more to be done at present. The case will come before
the magistrate to-morrow; so far as I'm concerned I'd rather it had come
on to-day. I don't suppose for an instant they'd send me for trial. The
police can't have anything but the flimsiest circumstantial evidence
against me. I guess I needn't assure you that I didn't murder the man!"

He looked at me queerly through his glasses; and