Mr. Fentolin made no immediate reply. With the delicate fingers of his right hand he pushed back the hair from his forehead. He looked at his questioner soothingly, as one might look at a spoiled child.
"Against my will?" Mr. Dunster repeated, raising his voice still higher. "Mr. Fentolin, if the truth must be told, I have heard of you before and been warned against you. I decline to accept any longer the hospitality of your roof. I insist upon leaving it.
If you will not provide me with any means of doing so, I will walk."
He made a motion as though to rise from the bed. Meekins' hand very gently closed upon his arm. One could judge that the grip was like a grip of iron.
"Dear me," Mr. Fentolin said, "this is really very unreasonable of you! If you have heard of me, Mr. Dunster, you ought to understand that notwithstanding my unfortunate physical trouble, I am a person of consequence and position in this county. I am a magistrate, ex-high sheriff, and a great land-owner here. I think I may say without boasting that I represent one of the most ancient families in this country. Why, therefore, should you treat me as though it were to my interest to inveigle you under my roof and keep you there for some guilty purpose? Cannot you understand that it is for your own good I hesitate to part with you?"
"I understand nothing of the sort," Mr. Dunster exclaimed angrily.
"Let us bring this nonsense to an end. I want my clothes, and if you won't lend me a car or a trap, I'll walk to the nearest railway station."
Mr. Fentolin shook his head.
"I am quite sure," he said, "that you are not in a position to travel. Even in the dining-room just now I heard a disturbance for which I was told that you were responsible."
"I simply insisted upon having my clothes," Mr. Dunster explained.
"Your servant refused to fetch them. rerhaps I lost my temper.
If so, I am sorry. I am not used to being thwarted."
"A few days' rest -" Mr. Fentolin began.
"A few days' rest be hanged!" Mr. Dunster interrupted fiercely.
"Listen, Mr. Fentolin," he added, with the air of one making a last effort to preserve his temper, "the mission with which I am charged is one of greater importance than you can imagine. So much depends upon it that my own life, if that is in danger, would be a mere trifle in comparison with the issues involved. If I am not allowed to continue upon my journey at once, the consequences may be more serious than I can tell you, to you and yours, to your own country.
There! - I am telling you a great deal, but I want you to understand that I am in earnest. I have a mission which I must perform, and which I must perform quickly."
"You are very mysterious," Mr. Fentolin murinured.
"I will leave nothing to chance," Mr. Dunster continued. "Send this man who seems to have constituted himself my jailer out of earshot, and I will tell you even more."
Mr. Fentolin turned to Meekins.
"You can leave the room for a moment," he ordered. "Wait upon the threshold."
Meekins very unwillingly turned to obey.
"You will excuse me, sir," he objected doubtfully, "but I am not at all sure that he is safe."
Mr. Fentolin smiled faintly.
"You need have no fear, Meekins," he declared. "I am quite sure that you are mistaken. I think that Mr. Dunster is incapable of any act of violence towards a person in my unfortunate position.
I am willing to trust myself with him - perfectly willing, Meekins."
Meekins, with ponderous footsteps, left the room and closed the door behind him. Mr. Fentolin leaned a little forward in his chair. It seemed as though he were on springs. The fingers of his right hand had disappeared in the pocket of his black velvet dinner-coat. He was certainly prepared for all emergencies.
"Now, Mr. Dunster," he said softly, "you can speak to me without reserve."
Mr. Dunster dropped his voice. His tone became one of fierce eagerness.
