.

A SMALL PRECAUTION.
My delight in the society of this young Squire Rattray (as I soon was to hear him styled) had been such as to make me almost forget the sinister incident which had brought us together.

When I returned to my room, however, there were the open window and the litter on the floor to remind me of what had happened earlier in the night.

Yet I was less disconcerted than you might suppose.

A common housebreaker can have few terrors for one who has braved those of mid-ocean single-handed; my would-be visitor had no longer any for me; for it had not yet occurred to me to connect him with the voices and the footsteps to which, indeed, I had been unable to swear before the doctor.