"Come into the library," said Mr. Garland; and when we were among his books, which were somewhat beautifully bound and cased in glass, he turned to Raffles and added hoarsely: "There's something in all this I haven't been told, and I insist on knowing what it is." "But you know as much as I do," protested Raffles. "I went out leaving Teddy asleep and came back to find him flown." "What time was that?" "Between nine and half-past when I went out. I was away nearly an hour." "Why leave him asleep at that time of morning?" "I wanted him to have every minute he could get. We had been sitting up rather late." "But why, Raffles? What could you have to talk about all night when you were tired and it was Teddy's business to keep fresh for to-day? Why, after all, should he want to see you the moment you got back? He's not the first young fellow who's got rather suddenly engaged to a charming girl; is he in any trouble about it, Raffles?" "About his engagement--not that I'm aware." "Then he is in some trouble?" "He was, Mr. Garland," answered Raffles. "I give you my word that he isn't now." Mr. Garland grasped the back of a chair. "Was it some money trouble, Raffles? Of course, if my boy has given you his confidence, I have no right simply as his father--" "It is hardly that, sir," said Raffles, gently; "it is I who have no right to give him away. But if you don't mind leaving it at that, Mr. Garland, there is perhaps no harm in my saying that it _was_ about some little temporary embarrassment that Teddy was so anxious to see me." "And you helped him?" cried the poor man, plainly torn between gratitude and humiliation. "Not out of my pocket," replied Raffles, smiling. "The matter was not so serious as Teddy thought; it only required adjustment." "God bless you, Raffles!" murmured Mr. Garland, with a catch in his voice. "I won't ask for a single detail. My poor boy went to the right man; he knew better than to come to me. Like father, like son!" he muttered to himself, and dropped into the chair he had been handling, and bent his head over his folded arms. He seemed to have forgotten the untoward effect of Teddy's disappearance in the peculiar humiliation of its first cause. Raffles took out his watch, and held up the dial for me to see. It was after the half-hour now; but at this moment a servant entered with a missive, and the master recovered his self-control. "This'll be from Teddy!" he cried, fumbling with his glasses. "No; it's for him, and by special messenger. I'd better open it. I don't suppose it's Miss Belsize again." "Miss Belsize is in the drawing-room, sir," said the man. "She said you were not to be disturbed." "Oh, tell her we shan't be long," said Mr. Garland, with a new strain of trouble in his tone. "Listen to this--listen to this," he went on before the door was shut: "'What has happened? Lost toss. Whipham plays if you don't turn up in time.--J. S.'" "Jack Studley," said Raffles, "the Cambridge skipper."