"'Let me see; according to the calculation on the card that reached you this morning there are still two days of respite?'
"'Not of respite. There is no respite from my torture till the end comes, be that what it may. But there are two days remaining of the thirty.'
"That was the problem, Mr. Mitchel," said Mr. Barnes, "which I was called upon to solve. Bearing in mind that I had not yet received the other man's communication, you will, of course, concede that it was my duty to endeavor to save this man?"
"Undoubtedly. It was your duty to save the man under any circumstances. We should always prevent crime where we can. The question here was rather how you might be able to accomplish this."
"How would you have proceeded, had the case been in your care?"
"Oh, no, Mr. Barnes," said Mr. Mitchel, laughing. "You cannot be allowed to get my advice after the affair is over. I must come in as principal or spectator. In this instance I am merely a spectator."
"Very well. As you please. My plan, I think, was as ingenious as it was simple. It was evident to me either that we had to deal with a man who did not intend to kill his victim, in which case any course would save him; or else the affair might be serious. If the man really was plotting murder, the affair occupying so long a time was unquestionably premeditated and thoroughly well planned. Whatever the scheme, it was equally obvious that we could not hope to fathom it. The blow, if it should come, would be swift and sure. Consequently but one course lay before us."
"And that was?"
"To remove our man to such a place of safety that the blow, however well conceived, could not by any possibility reach him."
"Ah, well argued! And could you find such a place?"