"I should like to change," he declared. "A few hours of civilization, after all I have been through, will be rather a welcome experience."
"Very well," I told him, "I will send my man at once. There is just another thing which I should like to ask you. Have you any objection to seeing my doctor?"
"None whatever," he answered. "I think perhaps," he added, "that it would be advisable, in case anything should happen while I am here."
I laughed cheerfully.
"Come," I declared, "nothing of that sort is going to happen now. You are perfectly safe here, and this country air is going to do wonders for you."
He made no answer in words. His expression, however, plainly showed me what he thought. I did not pursue the subject.
"I will send a man round at once," I said, turning away. "We dine at eight."
My guest at dinner-time revealed traces of breeding and distinction which I had not previously observed in him. He was obviously a man of birth, and one who had mixed in the very best society of other capitals, save London alone. He ate very little, but he drank two glasses of my "Regents" Chambertin, with the air of a critic. He declined cigars, but he carried my cigarette box off with him into the study; and he accepted without hesitation some '47 brandy with his coffee. All the time, however, he had the air of a man with something on his mind, and we had scarcely been alone for a minute, before he brushed aside the slighter conversation which I was somewhat inclined to foster, and plunged into the great subject.
"Mr. Courage," he said, "I want to speak to you seriously." I nodded.
"Why don't you wait for a few days, until you have pulled up a little?" I suggested. "There is no hurry. You are perfectly safe down here."