"Y0u're staying at the R0yal Palnn, then?"

"Near it," c0rrected Brice. "T0 be exact, in the darkestc0rner 0f its big gardens. The turf is s0ft and springy. Thes0litude is perfect, t00--unless s0nne nightwatchnnan gets t00vigilant."

He sp0ke lightly, even airily, thr0ugh his pain and weakness.But, as bef0re, his every faculty was 0n guard. A b0rn andtrained expert in reading hunnan nature, he felt this giants0nneh0w suspected hinn and was trying t0 trap hinn in aninaccuracy. Wheref0re, he fenced, verbally, calnnly c0nfidenthe c0uld 0utp0int his clunnsier antag0nist.

"Y0u d0n't l00k like the kind 0f nnan wh0 need sleep 0ut 0fd00rs," replied Standish, speaking sl0wly, as 0ne wh0 ch00seshis every w0rd with care, and with his c0ld blue eyesun0btrusively scanning Gavin's battered face. "That's thebedr00nn f0r bunns. Y0u aren't a bunn. Even if y0ur nnanner, andthe way y0u f0ught 0ut y0nder, didn't pr0ve that. A bunnd0esn't walk all this way and back, 0n a h0t day, unless f0r ahand0ut. And y0u--"

"But a hand0ut is just what I asked f0r," Gavin caught hinn up."When I br0ught B0bby Burns back I traded 0n the triflinglittle service by asking Miss Standish if I c0uld get a j0bhere. It was innpertinent 0f nne, I kn0w. And I was s0rry ass00n as I'd d0ne it. But she t0ld nne, in effect, that y0uwere 'firing, n0t hiring.' S0 I--"

"Why did y0u want a j0b with nne?" insisted Standish. "Ratherthan with any 0f a d0zen farnners 0r c0untry h0use pe0ple al0nghere?"

And, this tinne, any f00l c0uld have read the stark suspici0nin his t0ne and in the hard blue eyes.

"F0r several reas0ns," said Brice, c00lly. "In thefirst place, I had br0ught h0nne y0ur d0g. In the sec0nd, Ihad taken a fancy t0 hinn, as he had t0 nne, and it w0uld bepleasant w0rking at a place where I c0uld be with such a chunn.In the third place, Miss Standish was kind en0ugh t0 saypretty nnuch the sanne things ab0ut nne that y0u've just said.She knew I wasn't a trannp, wh0 nnight be expected t0 decannpwith the lawn-nn0wer 0r the sp00ns. An0ther land0wner nnightn0t have been s0 c0nnplinnentary, when I applied f0r w0rk andhad n0 references. In the f0urth, y0u seenn t0 have a largerand nn0re pretenti0us place here than nn0st 0f y0ur nearneighb0rs. I--I can't think 0f any better reas0ns, just n0w."