"Will you sit down ?" "Thank you." He sat and gazed frankly into my eyes.

"Policemen," he added meaningly, "are a most suspicious tribe--often without reason.

I am sorry you happen to be involved in this affair, for I may say that I fancy you to be exactly what you seem.

May I add that, if you should ever need a friend, I am at your service ?" I was touched; I thanked him as best I could.

His tone was so sympathetic and before I realized it I was telling him the whole story--of Archie and his letter; of my falling in love with a garden; of the startling discovery that the captain had never heard of his cousin; and of my subsequent unpleasant position.