Brown repeated his question.

"What IS the matter ?" he asked.

"You act just as you did when I first happened into this forsak--this place.

If you've got any more hideous secrets up your sleeve I'm going to quit." "Secrets!" Atkins laughed, or tried to.

"I ain't got any secrets," he declared, "any more than you have." The latter half of this speech shut off further questioning.