— XXXIX —AMONG THIEVES
Mr. Smithers looked from one to the other of the two men who had been responsible for the rapidity of his passage through the gate.
“Gentlemen, wasn’t that a little uncalled for? I have a constitutional disrelish for the touch of a stranger’s hand.”
The tall man answered – with a nasal twang—
“Perhaps it was a little unceremonious, but there are occasions on which ceremony has to take a back seat. I’ll ask you to be so good as to step along.”
They were standing in what was evidently a covered passageway leading from the outer gate to the house. The sides were apparently of brick, covered with painted plaster; the roof was of glass. A faint light glimmered in the hall beyond, but where they were it was all in shadow.
“You’re an American, sir?”
“I am; so you’ll
