way to disconcert him. He drew forth its
constituent elements as with a practised hand; when he had hung them up,
sombrero and all, in the wardrobe against the wall, they had the
trick of making that venerable oaken receptacle look as if it had been
fashioned expressly for them.

Thorpe's earlier uneasiness quite lost itself in his admiration for
Pangbourn's resourceful dexterity. The delighted thought that now
he would be needing a man like this for himself crossed his mind.
Conceivably he might even get this identical Pangbourn--treasure though
he were. Money could command everything on this broad globe--and why not
Pangbourn? He tentatively felt of the coins in his pocket, as it became
apparent that the man's task was nearing completion--and then frowned
at himself for forgetting that these things were always reserved for the
end of a visit.

"Will you dress now, sir?" asked Pangbourn. His soft, distinct
enunciation conveyed the suggestion of centuries of training.

"Eh?" said Thorpe, finding himself for the moment behind the other's
thought.

"Shall you require me any further, sir?" the man reframed the question,
deferentially.

"Oh! Oh--no," replied Thorpe. "No--I'll get along all right."

Left to himself, he began hurriedly the task of shaving and dressing.
The candles on either side of the thick, bevelled swinging mirror
presented a somewhat embarrassing contrast to the electric light he
was used to--but upon second thought he preferred this restrained
aristocratic glimmer.

He had completed his toilet, and was standing at the bay-window, with
his shoulder holding back the edge of the curtain, looking out upon the
darkened lawn and wondering whether he ought to go downstairs or wait
for someone to summon him, when he heard a knock at his door. Before
he could answer, the door opened, and he made out in the candle-and
firelight that it was Lord Plowden who had come in. He stepped forward
to meet his host who, clad now in evening-clothes, was smoking a
cigarette.

"Have they looked after you all right?" said Plowden, nonchalantly.
"Have a cigarette before we go down? Light it by the candle. They never
will keep matches in a bedroom."

He seated himself in an easy-chair before the fire, as he spoke, and
stretched out his shining slippers toward the grate. "I thought I'd tell
you before we went down"--he went on, as Thorpe, with an elbow on the
mantel, looked down at his handsome head--"my sister has a c