ny; and in the
third place there would be his amazement and discomfiture combined when
he found that Nicholas was not the doddering old ass he had taken him
for, but a man prepared to take matters into his own hands, and put a
stop once and for all to a long system of tyranny.

"Yes sir, a man, and not the crippled fool you have taken me for,"
Nicholas heard himself saying. He chuckled at the thought.

And then he sat upright. What need to wait till the morrow for that
interview? It was barely lunch time. A message to Antony requesting his
presence at two o'clock, another to Mr. Curtis requesting his an hour
later, and the game could be begun immediately.

Once more Nicholas chuckled. Then he pressed the electric button attached
to the arm of his chair.

* * * * *

For once, and once only, in the long course of his butlership did the
placid and unmoved calm of his manner entirely desert Jessop. The
occasion was the present one.

He was in the pantry cleaning silver, when the whirr of the electric bell
just above his head broke the silence. He put down the spoon he was
polishing, discarded his green baize apron, donned his coat, and made his
dignified way to the library.

Nicholas looked up at his entrance.

Accustomed to note every slightest variance in his master's moods, Jessop
was at once aware of something unusual in his bearing. There was an odd,
suppressed excitement; the nonchalance of his manner was unquestionably
assumed.

"Ah, Jessop, I rang."

"Yessir," said Jessop, imperturbably, as who should say, "Naturally,
since I have answered the summons."

Nicholas cleared his throat.

"Er--Jessop, you can bring Michael Field here at two o'clock this
afternoon, when he returns from his dinner. You can also let Mr. Curtis
know that he is to be here at three o'clock. You had better go to Byestry
and give the message yourself. If he wishes to know by whose orders, you
need mention no names, but merely say that orders have been given you to
that effect. I fancy curiosity will bring him, even if he resents the
non-mention of actual authority."

Jessop stared, actually stared, a prolonged, amazed survey of his
master's face.

"You are seeing them, sir!" he gasped.

For a moment testiness swung to the fore at the question. Then the
amazement on Jessop's face unloosed his sense of humour.

"Yes," said Nicholas quietly.

"But--" began Jessop. His mind was in a ch