I stared, and gasped.
"What do you mean?"
"Don't you know me intimately enough to be sure that once I'm on the warpath I stop at nothing?" he challenged.
"I don't think you'd be easy to stop," I said. "That's why I've called on you to help me. But really, I can't understand what there is in the thing to send you to prison."
"You don't need to understand," snorted Jim. "I sha'n't get there if I can keep out, because that would be the way to lose my prize. But I suppose from your point of view the great thing is for your two dearest friends to be happy ever after."
"Not at a terrible cost to you," I just stopped myself from saying. Instead, I hedged: "You frighten me!" I cried. "And you make me curious—fearfully curious. What can you be meaning to do?"
"That's my business!" said Jim.
"You've got a plan—already?"
"Yes, I've got a plan—already, if——"
"If what?"