u get away?"

Paredes waved his hand.

"Later, Mr. Graham. There is a hack driver outside who is even more
suspicious than you. He wants to be paid. I asked Rawlins to drive me
back, but he rushed from the courthouse, probably to telephone his
rotund superior. Fact is, this fellow wants five dollars--an
outrageous rate. I've told him so--but it doesn't do any good. So will
you lend me Bobby--"

Bobby handed him a banknote. He didn't miss Graham's meaning glance.
Paredes gave the money to the butler.

"Pay him, will you, Jenkins? Thanks."

He surveyed the remains of Bobby's breakfast. He sat down.

"May I? My breakfast was early, and prison food, when you're not in
the habit--"

Bobby tried to account for Paredes's friendly manner. That he should have
come back at all was sufficiently strange, but it was harder to
understand why he should express no resentment for his treatment
yesterday, why he should fail to refer to Bobby's questions at the moment
of his arrest, or to the openly expressed enmity of Graham. Only one
theory promised to fit at all. It was necessary for the Panamanian to
return to the Cedars. His purpose, whatever it was, compelled him to
remain for the present in the mournful, tragic house. Therefore, he would
crush his justifiable anger. He would make it practically impossible for
Bobby to refuse his hospitality. And he had asked for money--only a
trifling sum, yet Graham would grasp at the fact to support his earlier
suspicion.

Paredes's arrival possessed one virtue: It diverted Bobby's thoughts
temporarily from his own dilemma, from his inability to chart a course.

Graham, on the other hand, was ill at ease. Beyond a doubt he was
disarmed by Paredes's good humour. For him yesterday's incident was not
so lightly to be passed over. Eventually his curiosity conquered. The
words came, nevertheless, with some difficulty:

"We scarcely expected you back."

His laugh was short and embarrassed.

"We took it for granted you would find it necessary to stay in Smithtown
for a while."

Paredes sipped the coffee which Jenkins had poured.

"Splendid coffee! You should have tasted what I had this morning. Simple
enough, Mr. Graham. I telephoned as soon as Rawlins got me to the
Bastille. I communicated with the lawyer who represents the company for
which I once worked. He's a prominent and brilliant man. He planned it
with some local fellow. When I was arraigned at the opening of court this
morni