"Good evening, Mr. Morgan," I said, settling the revolver
into my hand.
There was no doubt about his surprise; he fell back,
staring at me hard, and instinctively drawing the hammer
over his shoulder as though to fling it at me.
"Just stay where you are a moment, Morgan," I said
pleasantly, and dropped to a sitting position on the wall
for greater ease in talking to him.
He stood sullenly, the hammer dangling at arm's
length, while my revolver covered his head.
"Now, if you please, I'd like to know what you mean
by prowling about here and rummaging my house!"
"Oh, it's you, is it, Mr. Glenarm? Well, you certainly
gave me a bad scare."
His air was one of relief and his teeth showed pleasantly
through his beard.
"It certainly is I. But you haven't answered my question.
What were you doing in my house to-day?"
He smiled again, shaking his head.
"You're really fooling, Mr. Glenarm. I wasn't in
your house to-day; I never was in it in my life!"
His white teeth gleamed in his light beard; his hat
was pushed back from his forehead so that I saw his
eyes, and he wore unmistakably the air of a man whose
conscience is perfectly clear. I was confident that he
lied, but without appealing to Bates I was not prepared
to prove it.
"But you can't deny that you're on my grounds now,
can you?" I had dropped the revolver to my knee, but
I raised it again.
"Certainly not, Mr. Glenarm. If you'll allow me to
explain-"
"That's precisely what I want you to do."
"Well, it may seem strange,"-he laughed, and I felt
the least bit foolish to be pointing a pistol at the head
of a fellow of so amiable a spirit.
"Hurry," I commanded.
"Well, as I was saying, it may seem strange; but I
was just examining the wall to determine the character
of the work. One of the cottagers on the lake left me
with the job of building a fence on his place, and I've
been expecting to come over to look at this all fall.
You see, Mr. Glenarm, your honored grandfather was
a master in such matters, as you may know, and I didn't
see any harm in getting the benefit-to put it so-of his
experience."
I laughed. He had denied having entered the house
with so much assurance that I had been prepared for
some really plausible explanation of his interest in the
wall.
"Morgan-you said it was Morgan, didn't you?-you
are undoubtedly a scoundrel of the first water. I make
the remark with pleasure."
"Men have been killed for saying less," he said.
"And for doing less than firing through windows at a
man's head. It wasn't friendly of you."
"I don't see why you center all your suspicions on
me. You exaggerate my importance, Mr. Glenarm. I'm
only the man-of-all-work at a summer resort."