“‘Doctor Edwardes,’ I says promptly, ‘and ’e’ll be back soon. Can’t you wait till then?’
“‘No, I can’t,’ he says, ‘that’s just what I can’t do. We don’t know when ’e’s going to be back. It may not be for months. Not until it’s too late.’
“And again he shuddered and looked past me into the corner till I felt like turning round to see if anything was there.
“Then he turned to me.”
“‘Now, Warder,’ he says, ‘are you going to help me, or are you not?’
“Very friendly and honest ’e looked, an’ ’e smiled, man to man, not like a lunatick at all.
“So I stood and thought a bit, and at last I said, ‘All right. I’ll do it for you, but I ’aven’t any use for the check.’
“On that he gets up from the bed and comes across the room and holds ’is ’and out. ‘You’re a straight man, Warder,’ he says, ‘Doc
