omas's place. But if you weren't so certain about his sanctity,
Luscombe, I should be inclined to look upon him as a criminal madman';
and there was a snarl in his voice.

'Surely you must have reasons for that,' I said.

'Yes, I have.'

'What are they?'

'I don't think I am obliged to tell,' he replied truculently.

'I think you are,' I said. 'To say the least of it, you owe him your
life,--I can testify to that, for he exposed himself to almost certain
death while digging you out from under a big heap of _debris_; none of
the others who were there would have done it. And it is hardly decent to
call one who has done such a thing a criminal madman, without having the
strongest reasons.'

'I _have_ the strongest reasons,' he replied, and I saw that his
libations had made him less cautious than usual. 'I do not think any one
can doubt his madness, whilst as for the criminality,' and he laughed
again, 'evidently he does the pious when he is with _you_; but when he
gets among men of his own ilk, his piety is an unknown quantity. But the
ladies are waiting, Sir Thomas; we must be off.'

I did not seek to pursue the conversation further. I did not think it
wise. And certainly the dining-room of a popular restaurant was not the
place for a scene.

I went back to the hotel very slowly, and having taken a somewhat
roundabout course it was not until an hour after I had left the
restaurant that I arrived there. I went into all the public rooms, and
looked for my friend. But he was nowhere visible. Then, feeling
somewhat uneasy, I went to his bedroom door, and was much relieved at
hearing him bid me enter. I found him sitting in an easy chair with a
handful of notes, which he had evidently been reading.

'What have you got there?' I asked.

'Oh, each night after we came back I wrote down my impressions,' he
replied, 'and I have been looking at them.'

'Well, you are a cool customer!' I laughed.

'Thank you. But what has led you to that tremendous conclusion?'

'Why, you see the woman with whom you pretend to be in love taken away by
another man, and never show the least desire to play your game! If it
were any one else but Springfield, I should not wonder so much, but
knowing your opinion of him, I can hardly understand it.'

'Yes, I hardly understand myself,' he replied; 'in fact, I am rather a
mystery to myself.'

'Do you really love Lorna Bolivick?' I asked.

'Excuse me, old man, but I don't quit