I reflected. "I think, if you don't mind, I'll come in and sit down. That was a deuce of a rap I got across the toes. I am sure to be a great deal more lenient and agreeable if I'm _asked_ to come in and see you. Incidentally, I thought I'd step up to inquire how your headache is getting on. Better, I hope?" She turned her face away. I suspected a smile. "If you choose to bang your old castle to pieces, in order to satisfy a masculine curiosity, Mr. Smart, I have nothing more to say," she said, facing me again--still ominously, to my despair. Confound it all, she was such a slim, helpless little thing--and all alone against a mob of burly ruffians! I could have kicked myself, but even that would have been an aimless enterprise in view of the fact that Poopendyke or any of the others could have done it more accurately than I and perhaps with greater respect. "Will you be good enough to send your--your army away, or do you prefer to have it on hand in case I should take it into my head to attack you?" "Take 'em away, Mr. Poopendyke," I commanded hurriedly. I didn't mind Poopendyke hearing what she said, but it would be just like one of those beggars to understand English--and also to misunderstand it. "And take this beastly crowbar with you, too. It has served its purpose nobly." Poopendyke looked his disappointment, and I was compelled to repeat the order. As they crowded down the short, narrow stairway, I remarked old Conrad and his two sons standing over against the wall, three very sinister figures. They remained motionless. "I see, madam, that you do not dismiss _your_ army," I said, blandly sarcastic. "Oh, you dear old Conrad!" she cried, catching sight of the hitherto submerged Schmicks. The three of them bobbed and scraped and grinned from ear to ear. There could be no mistaking the intensity of their joy. "Don't look so sad, Conrad. I know you are blameless. You poor old dear!" I have never seen any one who looked less sad than Conrad Schmick. Or could it be possible that he was crying instead of laughing? In either case I could not afford to have him doing it with such brazen discourtesy to me, so I rather peremptorily ordered him below. "I will attend to you presently,--all of you," said I. They did not move. "Do you hear me?" I snapped angrily. They looked stolidly at the slim young lady. She smiled, rather proudly, I thought. "You may go, Conrad. I shall not need you. Max, will you fetch up another scuttle of coal?" They took their orders from her! It even seemed to me that Max moved swiftly, although it was doubtless a hallucination on my part, brought about by nervous excitement. "By Jove!" I said, looking after my trusty men-servants as they descended. "I like _this!_ Are they my servants or yours?" "Oh, I suppose they are yours, Mr. Smart," she said carelessly. "Will you come in now, and make yourself quite at home?"