-"

"With your boots in your hand," he put in quietly.

"I took them off out of respect to the yellow dog you keep."

"He lies in a very natural attitude--eh?"

"You don't tell me he was _stuffed?_"

The old man's eyes beamed a contemptuous pity.

"You are indifferent sharp, my dear sir, for a housebreaker. Come in.
Set down those convicting boots, and don't drip pools of water in the
doorway. If I must entertain a burglar, I prefer him tidy."

He walked to the fire, picked up a poker, and knocked the coals into a
blaze. This done, he turned round on me with the poker still in his
hand. The serenest gravity sat on his large, pale features.

"Why have I done this?" he asked.

"I suppose to get possession of the poker."

"Quite right. May I inquire your next move?"

"Why?" said I, feeling in my tail-pocket, "I carry a pistol."

"Which I suppose to be damp?"

"By no means. I carry it, as you see, in an oil-cloth case."

He stooped, and laid the poker carefully in the fender.

"That is a stronger card than I possess. I might urge that by pulling
the trigger you would certainly alarm the house and the neighbourhood,
and put a halter round your neck. But it strikes me as safer to assume
you capable of using a pistol with effect at three paces. With what
might happen subsequently I will not pretend to be concerned. The fate
of your neck"--he waved a hand,--"well, I have known you for just five
minutes, and feel but a moderate interest in your neck. As for the
inmates of this house, it will refresh you to hear that there are none.
I have lived here two years with a butler and female cook, both of whom
I dismissed yesterday at a minute's notice, for conduct which I will not
shock your ears by explicitly naming. Suffice it to say, I carried them
off yesterday to my parish church, two miles away, married them and
dismissed them in the vestry without characters. I wish you had known
that butler--but excuse me; with the information I have supplied, you
ought to find no difficulty in fixing the price you will take to clear
out of my house instanter."

"Sir," I answered, "I have held a pistol at one or two heads in my time,
but never at one stuffed with nobler indiscretion. Your chivalry does
not, indeed, disarm me, but prompts me to desire more of your
acquaintance. I have found a gentleman, and must sup with him before I
make terms."

This address seemed to please him. He shuffled across the room t