You will be highly entertained, my learned friend, and Mr.The Enemy will be excessively surprised." He inspected the newly-made cigarette with a critical air and chuckled softly.
"You seem pretty confident," I remarked.
"I am," he answered, "though Thorndyke considers failure possible--which, of course, it is if the jury-box should chance to be filled with microcephalic idiots and the judge should prove incapable of understanding simple technical evidence.

But we hope that neither of these things will happen, and, if they do not, we feel pretty safe.

By the way, I hope I am not divulging your principal's secrets ?" "Well," I replied, with a smile, "you have been more explicit than Thorndyke ever has." "Have I ?" he exclaimed, with mock anxiety; "then I must swear you to secrecy.

Thorndyke is so very close--and he is quite right too.

I never cease admiring his tactics of allowing the enemy to fortify and barricade the entrance that he does _not_ mean to attack.