luck.'

"This seemed to puzzle him for a moment. Then, 'Oh, I see what
you mean,' he said. 'But we're coming to that. . . . You gave
me a fair turn just now, you did, turning up so unexpected.
But (says I) this makes an opportunity that I ought to have made
for myself before leaving London. Yes, I ought. . . . But I
want to say to you now, Dr. Foe--as between man and man--that I
made a mistake. I was misled--that's the long and short of it.
I never stirred up that crowd, Doctor, to make the mess they did
of your--your premises. But so far as any unguarded words of
mine may have set things going in my absence--well, I'm sorry.
A man can't say fairer than that, can he? . . . And I've
suffered for it, too,' he added; 'if that's any consolation to
you.'

"'Suffered, have you?' I asked.

"'What, haven't you heard?' He was surprised.--Yes, Roddy,
genuinely. 'Well, now I won't say it was all owing to that
little affair at the Silversmiths' College. . . . There were
other--er--circumstances. In fact there was what-you-might-call
a combination of circumstances. The upshot of which was that I
had a safe seat and took a bad toss out of it. No, I don't
harbour no feelings against you, Doctor Foe. I'm a sociable,
easy-going sort of fellow, and not above owning up to a mistake
when I've made one. . . . I stung you up again just now, wishing
you joy of your luck: meaning no more than your winnings at the
tables. Not being touchy myself, I dessay it comes easy to
advise a man not to be touchy. But what I say is, we're both
down on our luck for the time, and we're both here to forget it.
So why not be sociable?'

"'Suppose on the contrary, Mr. Farrell,' I suggested, 'that I am
here to remember. What then?'

"'Then I'd say--No, you interrupted me somewhere when I was going
to make myself clear. You won't mind what I'm going to say?
. . . Well, then, I gather those asses did some pretty
considerable damage to your scientific 'plant'--is that so?
. . . Well, again, feeling a sort of responsibility in this
business, I want to say that if it'll set things on their legs
again, five or six thousand pounds won't break Peter Farrell.'

"I didn't strangle him, Roddy. It was the perilous moment: but I
sat it out like a statue, and then