I

    It was only after many hours of thought that it had flashed uponme that the simplest and safest way of removing the Little Nuggetwas to induce him to remove himself. Once the idea had come, therest was simple. The negotiations which had taken place thatmorning in the stable-yard had been brief. I suppose a boy inOgden's position, with his record of narrow escapes from thekidnapper, comes to take things as a matter of course which wouldstartle the ordinary boy. He assumed, I imagine, that I was theaccredited agent of his mother, and that the money which I gavehim for travelling expenses came from her. Perhaps he had beenexpecting something of the sort. At any rate, he grasped theessential points of the scheme with amazing promptitude. Hislittle hand was extended to receive the cash almost before I hadfinished speaking.

　　The main outline of my plan was that he should slip away toLondon, during the afternoon, go to my rooms, where he would findSmith, and with Smith travel to his mother at Monaco. I hadwritten to Smith, bidding him be in readiness for the expedition.

　　There was no flaw in the scheme as I had mapped it out, and thoughOgden had complicated it a little by gratuitously luring awayAugustus Beckford to bear him company, he had not endangered itssuccess.

　　But now an utterly unforeseen complication had arisen. My onedesire now was to undo everything for which I had been plotting.

　　I stood there, looking at her dumbly, hating myself for being thecause of the anxiety in her eyes. If I had struck her, I could nothave felt more despicable. In my misery I cursed Cynthia forleading me into this tangle.

　　I heard my name spoken, and turned to find White at my elbow.

　　'Mr Abney would like to see you, sir.'

　　I went upstairs, glad to escape. The tension of the situation hadbegun to tear at my nerves.

　　'Cub id, Bister Burds,' said my employer, swallowing a lozenge.

　　His aspect was more dazed than ever. 'White has just badean--ah--extraordinary cobbudicatiod to me. It seebs he is inreality a detective, an employee of Pidkertod's Agedcy, of whichyou have, of course--ah--heard.'

　　So White had revealed himself. On the whole, I was not surprised.

　　Certainly his motive for concealment, the fear of making Mr Abneynervous, was removed. An inrush of Red Indians with tomahawkscould hardly have added greatly to Mr Abney's nervousness at thepresent juncture.

　　'Sent here by Mr Ford, I suppose?' I said. I had to say something.

　　'Exactly. Ah--precisely.' He sneezed. 'Bister Ford, withoutcodsulting me--I do not cobbedt on the good taste or wisdob of hisactiod--dispatched White to apply for the post of butler atthis--ah--house, his predecessor having left at a bobedt's dotice,bribed to do so, I strodgly suspect, by Bister Ford himself. I baybe wrodging Bister Ford, but do dot thig so.'

　　I thought the reasoning sound.

　　'All thad, however,' resumed Mr Abney, removing his face from ajug of menthol at which he had been sniffing with the tenseconcentration of a dog at a rabbit-hole, 'is beside the poidt. Iberely bedtiod it to explaid why White will accompady you toLondon.'

　　'What!'

　　The exclamation was forced from me by my dismay. This wasappalling. If this infernal detective was to accompany me, mychance of bringing Ogden back was gone. It had been my intentionto go straight to my rooms, in the hope of finding him not yetdeparted. But how was I to explain his presence there to White?

　　'I don't think it's necessary, Mr Abney,' I protested. 'I am sureI can manage this affair by myself.'

　　'Two heads are better thad wud,' said the invalid sententiously,burying his features in the jug once more.

　　'Too many cooks spoil the broth,' I replied. If the conversationwas to consist of copybook maxims, I could match him as long as hepleased.

　　He did not keep up the intellectual level of the discussion.

　　'Dodseds!' he snapped, with the irritation of a man whose proverbhas been capped by another. I had seldom heard him speak sosharply. White's revelation had evidently impressed him. He hadall the ordinary peaceful man's reverence for the professionaldetective.

　　'White will accompany you, Bister Burds,' he said doggedly.

　　'Very well,' I said.

　　After all, it might be that I should get an opportunity of givinghim the slip. London is a large city.

　　A few minutes later the cab arrived, and White and I set forth onour mission.

　　We did not talk much in the cab. I was too busy with my thoughtsto volunteer remarks, and White, apparently, had meditations ofhis own to occupy him.

　　It was when we had settled ourselves in an empty compartment andthe train had started that he found speech. I had provided myselfwith a book as a barrier against conversation, and began at onceto make a pretence of reading, but he broke through my defences.

　　'Interesting book, Mr Burns?'

　　'Very,' I said.

　　'Life's more interesting than books.'

　　I made no comment on this profound observation. He was notdiscouraged.

　　'Mr Burns,' he said, after the silence had lasted a few moments.

　　'Yes?'

　　'Let's talk for a spell. These train-journeys are pretty slow.'

　　Again I seemed to detect that curious undercurrent of meaning inhis voice which I had noticed in the course of our brief exchangeof remarks in the hall. I glanced up and met his eye. He waslooking at me in a way that struck me as curious. There wassomething in those bright brown eyes of his which had the effectof making me vaguely uneasy. Something seemed to tell me that hehad a definite motive in forcing his conversation on me.

　　'I guess I can interest you a heap more than that book, even ifit's the darndest best seller that was ever hatched.'

　　'Oh!'

　　He lit a cigarette.

　　'You didn't want me around on this trip, did you?'

　　'It seemed rather unnecessary for both of us to go,' I saidindifferently. 'Still, perhaps two heads are better than one, asMr Abney remarked. What do you propose to do when you get toLondon?'

　　He bent forward and tapped me on the knee.

　　'I propose to stick to you like a label on a bottle, sonny,' hesaid. 'That's what I propose to do.'

　　'What do you mean?'

　　I was finding it difficult, such is the effect of a guiltyconscience, to meet his eye, and the fact irritated me.

　　'I want to find out that address you gave the Ford kid thismorning out in the stable-yard.'

　　It is strange how really literal figurative expressions are. I hadread stories in which some astonished character's heart leapedinto his mouth. For an instant I could have supposed that mine hadactually done so. The illusion of some solid object blocking up mythroat was extraordinarily vivid, and there certainly seemed to bea vacuum in the spot where my heart should have been. Not for asubstantial reward could I have uttered a word at that moment. Icould not even breathe. The horrible unexpectedness of the blowhad paralysed me.

　　White, however, was apparently prepared to continue the chatwithout my assistance.

　　'I guess you didn't know I was around, or you wouldn't have talkedthat way. Well, I was, and I heard every word you said. Here wasthe money, you said, and he was to take it and break for London,and go to the address on this card, and your pal Smith would lookafter him. I guess there had been some talk before that, but Ididn't arrive in time to hear it. But I heard all I wanted, exceptthat address. And that's what I'm going to find out when we get toLondon.'

　　He gave out this appalling information in a rich and soothingvoice, as if it were some ordinary commonplace. To me it seemed toend everything. I imagined I was already as good as under arrest.

　　What a fool I had been to discuss such a matter in a place like astable yard, however apparently empty. I might have known that ata school there are no empty places.

　　'I must say it jarred me when I heard you pulling that stuff,'

　　continued White. 'I haven't what you might call a childlike faithin my fellow-man as a rule, but it had never occurred to me for amoment that you could be playing that game. It only shows,' headded philosophically, 'that you've got to suspect everybody whenit comes to a gilt-edged proposition like the Little Nugget.'

　　The train rattled on. I tried to reduce my mind to working order,to formulate some plan, but could not.

　　Beyond the realization that I was in the tightest corner of mylife, I seemed to have lost the power of thought.

　　White resumed his monologue.

　　'You had me guessing,' he admitted. 'I couldn't figure you out.

　　First thing, of course, I thought you must be working in with BuckMacGinnis and his crowd. Then all that happened tonight, and I sawthat, whoever you might be working in with, it wasn't Buck. Andnow I've placed you. You're not in with any one. You're justplaying it by yourself. I shouldn't mind betting this was yourfirst job, and that you saw your chance of making a pile byholding up old man Ford, and thought it was better thanschoolmastering, and grabbed it.'

　　He leaned forward and tapped me on the knee again. There wassomething indescribably irritating in the action. As one who hashad experience, I can state that, while to be arrested at all isbad, to be arrested by a detective with a fatherly manner ismaddening.

　　'See here,' he said, 'we must get together over this business.'

　　I suppose it was the recollection of the same words in the mouthof Buck MacGinnis that made me sit up with a jerk and stare athim.

　　'We'll make a great team,' he said, still in that same cosy voice.

　　'If ever there was a case of fifty-fifty, this is it. You've gotthe kid, and I've got you. I can't get away with him without yourhelp, and you can't get away with him unless you square me. It's astand-off. The only thing is to sit in at the game together andshare out. Does it go?'

　　He beamed kindly on my bewilderment during the space of time ittakes to select a cigarette and light a match. Then, blowing acontented puff of smoke, he crossed his legs and leaned back.

　　'When I told you I was a Pinkerton's man, sonny,' he said, 'Imissed the cold truth by about a mile. But you caught me shootingoff guns in the grounds, and it was up to me to say something.'

　　He blew a smoke-ring and watched it dreamily till it melted in thedraught from the ventilator.

　　'I'm Smooth Sam Fisher,' he said.

II

    When two emotions clash, the weaker goes to the wall. Any surpriseI might have felt was swallowed up in my relief. If I had been atliberty to be astonished, my companion's information would nodoubt have astonished me. But I was not. I was so relieved that hewas not a Pinkerton's man that I did not really care what else hemight be.

　　'It's always been a habit of mine, in these little matters,' hewent on, 'to let other folks do the rough work, and chip in myselfwhen they've cleared the way. It saves trouble and expense. Idon't travel with a gang, like that bone-headed Buck. What's theuse of a gang? They only get tumbling over each other and spoilingeverything. Look at Buck! Where is he? Down and out. While I--'

　　He smiled complacently. His manner annoyed me. I objected to beinglooked upon as a humble cat's paw by this bland scoundrel.

　　'While you--what?' I said.

　　He looked at me in mild surprise.

　　'Why, I come in with you, sonny, and take my share like agentleman.'

　　'Do you!'

　　'Well, don't I?'

　　He looked at me in the half-reproachful half-affectionate mannerof the kind old uncle who reasons with a headstrong nephew.

　　'Young man,' he said, 'you surely aren't thinking you can put oneover on me in this business? Tell me, you don't take me for thatsort of ivory-skulled boob? Do you imagine for one instant, sonny,that I'm not next to every move in this game? Are you deludingyourself with the idea that this thing isn't a perfect cinch forme? Let's hear what's troubling you. You seem to have gotten somefoolish ideas in your head. Let's talk it over quietly.'

　　'If you have no objection,' I said, 'no. I don't want to talk toyou, Mr Fisher. I don't like you, and I don't like your way ofearning your living. Buck MacGinnis was bad enough, but at leasthe was a straightforward tough. There's no excuse for you.'

　　'Surely we are unusually righteous this p.m., are we not?' saidSam suavely.

　　I did not answer.

　　'Is this not mere professional jealousy?'

　　This was too much for me.

　　'Do you imagine for a moment that I'm doing this for money?'

　　'I did have that impression. Was I wrong? Do you kidnap the sonsof millionaires for your health?'

　　'I promised that I would get this boy back to his mother. That iswhy I gave him the money to go to London. And that is why my valetwas to have taken him to--to where Mrs Ford is.'

　　He did not reply in words, but if ever eyebrows spoke, his said,'My dear sir, really............