THE BARGAIN It may be that when one is placed in such a predicament as that in which I then found myself, one's wits are suddenly sharpened, and a new sense is given to one.

Whether that is so or not, I was as certain as if I actually saw him that my assailant was the butler, Hollins.

And I should have been infinitely surprised if any other voice than his had spoken--as he did speak when the last grumble of the thunder died out in a sulky, reluctant murmur.
"In at that door, and straight up the stairs, Moneylaws!" he commanded.
"And quick, if you don't want your brains scattering.

Lively, now!" He trailed the muzzle of the revolver round from my temple to the back of my head as he spoke, pressing it into my hair in its course in a fashion that was anything but reassuring.

I have often thought since of how I expected the thing to go off at any second, and how I was--for it's a fact--more curious than frightened about it.