If ever in my life I felt confident that a man was telling me a lie it was at that moment, but my belief was certainly due to no fault of Mr. Latimer's. He spoke with a coolness and an apparent candour that would have done credit to a Cabinet Minister. "The District Surveyor!" I repeated. "And what does that distinguished person want with me?" Mr. Latimer made a gesture towards the hut with his disengaged hand. "It's nothing of any real importance," he said, "but you appear to have been making some slight alterations here. This wooden building--" "It's only a temporary structure," I interrupted. He nodded. "Quite so. Still there are certain bye-laws which we have to see attended to. The Surveyor happened to notice it the other day when he was passing, and he asked me to find out the exact purpose it was intended for. We are bound to make some restrictions about wooden buildings on account of the extra chance of their catching fire." The idea of the District Surveyor being seriously perturbed over the possibility of my being roasted alive struck me as rather improbable, but I was careful not to give any impression of doubting the statement. "As a matter of fact," I said, "there is no chance of a tragedy of that sort. I have taken the place to make a few experiments in connection with photography. The stuff I am using is quite uninflammable." All the time I was speaking I was watching him carefully to see if I could detect the least sign of his recognizing me. For any such indication, however, we might have been utter strangers. He accepted my falsehood as politely as I had received his. "Well, in that case," he said, with a smile, "there is really no need for me to bother you any further. I will tell the Surveyor that you are a strictly law-abiding citizen. Meanwhile"--he stepped back and again raised his hat--"let me apologize once more for having broken into your place." Whether there was any deliberate irony in his remark I was unable to guess; his manner at all events gave no hint of it. "You needn't apologize," I returned artlessly. "It was my own fault for leaving the door open." I thought I saw the faintest possible quiver at the corner of his lips, but if so it was gone again at once. "Yes," he said gravely. "You will find it safer to keep the place locked up. Good-day, sir." "Good-day," I replied, and turning deliberately away from him I sauntered off towards the hut. I did not look round until I had reached the door; and even then I made a pretence of dropping my keys and stooping to pick them up. The precaution, however, seemed a little superfluous. Mr. Latimer was some thirty or forty yards away, walking inland across the marsh in the direction of Tilbury. I couldn't help wondering whether he had noticed the mast of the _Betty_, which was just visible in the distance, sticking up demurely above the bank of the creek.