““You have less frontal development than I should have expected,” said he at last. “It is a dangerous habit to finger loaded firearms in the pocket of one's dressing-gown.”
“The fact is that upon his entrance I had instantly recognized the extreme personal danger in which I lay. The only conceivable escape for him lay in silencing my tongue. In an instant I had slipped the revolver from the drawer into my pocket and was covering him through the cloth. At his remark I drew the weapon out and laid it cocked upon the table. He still smiled and blinked, but there was something about his eyes which made me feel very glad that I had it there.
““You evidently don't know me,” said he.
” “On the contrary,” I answered, &onq;I think it is fairly evident that I do. Pray take a chair. I can spare you five minutes if you have anything to say.”
““All that I have to say has already crossed your mind,” said he.
““Then possibly my answer has crossed yours,” I replied.
““You stand fast?”
” “Absolutely.”
“He clapped his hand into his pocket, and I raised the pistol from the table. But he merely drew out a memorandum-book in which he had scribbled some dates.
““You crossed my path on the fourth of January,” said he. “On the twenty-third you incommoded me; by the middle of February I was seriously inconvenienced by you; at the end of March I was absolutely hampered in my plans; and now, at the close of April, I find myself placed in such a position through your continual persecution that I am in positive danger of losing my liberty. The situation is becoming an impossible one.”
““Have you any suggestion to make?” I asked.
” “You must drop it, Mr. Holmes,” said he, swaying his face about. “You really must, you know.”
““After Monday,” said I.
” “Tut, tut!” said he. ' I am quite sure that a man of your intelligence will see that there can be but one outcome to this affair. It is necessary that you should withdraw. You have worked things in such a fashion that we have only one resource left. It has been an intellectual treat to me to see the way in which you have grappled with this affair, and I say, unaffectedly, that it would be a grief to me to be forced to take any extreme measure. You smile, sir, but I assure you that it really would.
““Danger is part of my trade,” I remarked.
” “This is not danger,” said he. “It is inevitable destruction. You stand in the way not merely of an individual but of a mighty organization, the full extent of which you, with all your cleverness, have been unable to realize. You must stand clear, Mr.
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