to go back very soon! Surely, surely, you
can understand! You are married--I mean, a clergyman in the exercise of
his duties must have a wide knowledge of the world--a certain
sympathy...."

"I can understand," said the vicar thoughtfully, perhaps flattered at
the tribute to his worldly knowledge. "I can not praise--possibly can
not sympathize; but at least I may fairly claim to understand."

"Thank you--thank you! Well, to be as brief as I can (and every minute
is precious!), my friend and I had reason to suspect the occupants of
The Quiet House----"

"Ha!" The vicar pricked up his ears. "Certain hints and whisperings have
drifted round to me in the course of my parochial visiting, but----"

"Please, _please_, don't interrupt. You forget the London train! Mr.
Wild and I entered The Quiet House garden by night to watch----"

"Surely that----"

"Yes--yes--yes! Most reprehensible, but you do not know all. We watched,
were discovered, and in making our escape Mr. Wild was captured. I have
not seen him since."

"What!"

"For five days I have been alone, miserable, in doubt and anguish. I
have wondered, waited, made cautious inquiries. Nothing has happened.
What am I to do?"

"You suspect----?" queried the vicar in delightful horror. He felt his
hair bristling in anticipation.

"I do not know ... I can not guess. They say it is high politics--the
Turkish government.... A spy.... I do not know what to believe. What can
I do?"

The vicar, who prided himself on being a business man, mused for a
moment, chin on hand.

"Suppose," he said brightly, "that Mott, the local policeman, applied
for a search-warrant?"

"I would rather not invoke the aid of the police, if possible. There may
be nothing serious after all, and in that case we should look
ridiculous. Besides ... I wondered if you could call?"

The vicar seemed pleased, but apprehensive.

"Of course," he said, "I would face any danger if necessary and for a
good cause. But I have my flock to think of.... If matters are as
serious as you suggest, might there not be a second kidnaping? One
hesitates to be melodramatic, but the possibilities of...."

"They would not dare to touch a minister of the church. There would be
an outcry----"

"True ... true ... but would they admit me? I have called and been
denied. Do you think----"

He paused, as a motor-horn sounded from the road. The noise of the
engine was plainly heard. A moment later and the gate leading