CHAPTER IV ECHOES OF A FAMOUS CASE Whatever my intentions may have been--and they were pretty venomous when I jumped up--the revolver was really an unnecessary precaution. Directly I was on my feet I went as giddy as a kite, and it was only by clutching the chair that I saved myself from toppling over. I was evidently in a worse way than I imagined. Lowering his weapon the doctor repeated his order. "Sit down, man, sit down. No one means you any harm here." "Who is it in the car?" I demanded, fighting hard against the accursed feeling of faintness that was again stealing through me. "They are friends of mine. They have nothing to do with the police. You will see in a minute." I sat down, more from necessity than by choice, and as I did so I heard the car draw up outside the back door. Crossing to the window the doctor threw up the sash. "Savaroff!" he called out. There came an answer in a man's voice which I was unable to catch. "Come in here," went on McMurtrie. "Don't bother about the car." He turned back to me. "Drink this," he added, pouring out some more brandy into the wine-glass. I gulped it down and lay back again in my chair, tingling all through. He took my wrist and felt my pulse for a moment. "I know you are feeling bad," he said, "but we'll get your wet clothes off and put you to bed in a minute. You will be a different man in the morning." "That will be very convenient," I observed faintly. There was a noise of footsteps outside, the handle of the door turned, and a man--a huge bear of a man in a long Astrachan coat--strode heavily into the room. He was followed by a girl whose face was almost hidden behind a partly-turned-back motor veil. When they caught sight of me they both stopped abruptly. "Who's this?" demanded the man. Dr. McMurtrie made a graceful gesture towards me with his hand. "Allow me," he said, "to introduce you. Monsieur and Mademoiselle Savaroff--our distinguished and much-sought-after friend Mr. Neil Lyndon." The big man gave a violent start, and with a little exclamation the girl stepped forward, turning back her veil. I saw then that she was remarkably handsome, in a dark, rather sullen-looking sort of way. "You will excuse my getting up," I said weakly. "It doesn't seem to agree with me." "Mr. Lyndon," explained the doctor, "is fatigued. I was just proposing that he should go to bed when I heard the car." "How in the name of Satan did he get here?" demanded the other man, still staring at me in obvious amazement. "He came in through the window with the intention of borrowing a little food. I had happened to see him in the garden, and being under the natural impression that he was--er--well, another friend of ours, I ventured to detain him." Savaroff gave a short laugh. "But it's incredible," he muttered. The girl was watching me curiously. "Poor man," she exclaimed, "he must be starving!"