hang it up perhaps he is waiting for a better price if he waits a little longer he will get no price at all the treaty will cease to be a secret in a few months that is most important said of course it is a possible supposition that the thief has had a sudden illness by the naval treaty l l an attack of brain fever for example asked the flashing a swift glance at him i did not say so said and now lord we have already taken up too much of your valuable time and we shall wish you good day every success to your investigation be the criminal who it may answered the nobleman as he bowed us out at the door he s a fine fellow said as we came out into but he has a struggle to keep up his position he is far from rich and has many calls you noticed of course that his boots had been re now i won t detain you from your legitimate work any longer i shall do nothing more to day unless i have an answer to my cab advertisement but i should be extremely obliged to you if you would come down with me to to morrow by the same train which we took to day by l of i met him accordingly next morning and we travelled down to together he had had no answer to his advertisement he said and no fresh light had been thrown upon the case he had when he so willed it the utter of countenance of a red indian and i could not gather from his appearance whether he was satisfied or not with the position of the case his conversation i remember was about the s of and he expressed his enthusiastic admiration of the french we found our still under the charge of his devoted nurse but looking considerably better than before he rose from the sofa and greeted us without difficulty when we entered any news he asked eagerly my report as i expected is a negative one said i have seen and i have seen your uncle and i have set one or two trains of inquiry upon foot which may lead to something by the naval treaty you have not lost heart then by no means god bless you for sa ring cried miss if we keep our courage and our patience the truth must come out we have more to tell you than you have for us said himself upon the couch i hoped you might have something yes we have had an adventure during the night and one which might have proved to be a serious one his expression grew very grave as he spoke and a look of something akin to fear sprang up in his eyes do you know said he that i begin to believe that i am the unconscious centre of some monstrous conspiracy and that my life is aimed at as well as my honour ah cried it sounds incredible for i have not as far as i know an enemy in the world yet from last night s experience i can come to no other conclusion pray let me hear it by of you must know that last night was the very first night that i have ever slept without a nurse in the room i was so much better that i thought i could dispense with one i had a night light burning however well about two in the morning i had sunk into a light sleep when i was suddenly aroused by a slight noise it was like the sound which a mouse makes when it is a plank and i lay listening to it for some time under the impression that it must come from that cause then it grew louder and suddenly there came from the window a sharp i sat up in amazement there could be no doubt what the sounds were now the faint ones had been caused by forcing an instrument through the between the and the second by the catch being pressed back there was a pause then for about ten as if the person were waiting to see whether the noise had me then i heard a gentle creaking as the window was very slowly opened i could stand it no longer for my nerves are not what by the naval treaty they used to be i sprang out of bed a d flung open the shutters a man was crouching at the window i could see little of him for he was gone like a flash he was wrapped in some sort of cloak which came across the lower part of his face one thing only i am sure of and that is that he had some weapon in his hand it looked to me like a long knife i distinctly saw the gleam of it as he turned to run this is most interesting said pray what did you do then i should have followed him through the open window if i had been stronger as it was i rang the bell and roused the house it took me some little time for the bell rings in the kitchen and the servants all sleep upstairs i shouted however and that brought joseph down and he roused the others joseph and the groom found marks on the outside the window but the weather has been so dry lately that they found it hopeless to follow the trail across the grass there s a place however on the wooden fence which skirts the road which by op shows they tell me as if had got over and had snapped the top of the rail in doing so i have said nothing to the local police yet for i thought i had best have your opinion first this tale of our s appeared to have an extraordinary 