"I fancy you let yourself in, Mr. James, with your key." "That would seem to indicate that I was in a state of icy sobriety. Yet, if such is the case, how is it that I can't remember whether I murdered somebody or not last night? It isn't the sort of thing your sober man would lightly forget. Have you ever murdered anybody, Bayliss?" "No, sir." "Well, if you had, you would remember it next morning?" "I imagine so, Mr. James." "Well, it's a funny thing, but I can't get rid of the impression that at some point in my researches into the night life of London yestreen I fell upon some person to whom I had never been introduced and committed mayhem upon his person." It seemed to Bayliss that the time had come to impart to Mr. James a piece of news which he had supposed would require no imparting. He looked down upon his young master's recumbent form with a grave commiseration. It was true that he had never been able to tell with any certainty whether Mr. James intended the statements he made to be taken literally or not, but on the present occasion he seemed to have spoken seriously and to be genuinely at a loss to recall an episode over the printed report of which the entire domestic staff had been gloating ever since the arrival of the halfpenny morning paper to which they subscribed. "Do you really mean it, Mr. James?" he enquired cautiously. "Mean what?" "You have really forgotten that you were engaged in a fracas last night at the Six Hundred Club?" Jimmy sat up with a jerk, staring at this omniscient man. Then the movement having caused a renewal of the operations of the red-hot corkscrew, he fell back again with a groan. "Was I? How on earth did you know? Why should you know all about it when I can't remember a thing? It was my fault, not yours." "There is quite a long report of it in to-day's _Daily Sun_, Mr. James." "A report? In the _Sun_?" "Half a column, Mr. James. Would you like me to fetch the paper? I have it in my pantry." "I should say so. Trot a quick heat back with it. This wants looking into." Bayliss retired, to return immediately with the paper. Jimmy took it, gazed at it, and handed it back. "I overestimated my powers. It can't be done. Have you any important duties at the moment, Bayliss?" "No, sir." "Perhaps you wouldn't mind reading me the bright little excerpt, then?" "Certainly, sir." "It will be good practice for you. I am convinced I am going to be a confirmed invalid for the rest of my life, and it will be part of your job to sit at my bedside and read to me. By the way, does the paper say who the party of the second part was? Who was the citizen with whom I went to the mat?" "Lord Percy Whipple, Mr. James." "Lord who?" "Lord Percy Whipple." "Never heard of him. Carry on, Bayliss." Jimmy composed himself to listen, yawning. CHAPTER V THE MORNING AFTER