"I think I'll have the '64," he said, pouring out a glass and swallowing it with all the gusto of a man whose chief delight was the satisfaction of his stomach. I took a cigarette from the big silver box he handed me, and I stretched out my hand for the matches.... Beyond that, curiously enough, I recollect nothing else. But stay! Yes, I do. I remember seeing, as though rising from out a hazy grey mist, a woman's face--the countenance of a very pretty girl, about eighteen, with big blue wide-open eyes and very fair silky hair--a girl, whose eyes bore in them a hideous look of inexpressible horror. Next instant the blackness of unconsciousness fell upon me. When I recovered I was amazed to find myself in bed, with the yellow wintry sunlight streaming into the low, old-fashioned room. For some time--how long I know not--I lay there staring at the diamond-paned window straight before me, vaguely wondering what had occurred. A sound at last struck the right chord of my memory--the sound of my host's voice exclaiming cheerily: "How do you feel, old chap? Better, I hope, after your long sleep. Do you know it's nearly two o'clock in the afternoon?" Two o'clock! After a struggle I succeeded in sitting up in bed. "What occurred?" I managed to gasp. "I--I don't exactly remember." "Why nothing, my dear fellow," declared my friend, laughing. "You were a bit tired last night, that's all. So I thought I wouldn't disturb you." "Where's Bennett?" "Downstairs with the car, waiting till you feel quite right again." I then realised for the first time that I was still dressed. Only my boots and collar and tie had been removed. Much puzzled, and wondering whether it were actually possible that I had taken too much wine, I rose to my feet and slowly assumed my boots. Was the man standing before me a friend, or was he an enemy? I recollected most distinctly sampling the brandy, but beyond that--absolutely nothing. At my host's orders Henry brought me up a refreshing cup of tea and after a quarter of an hour or so, during which Sandford declared that "such little annoying incidents occur in the life of every man," I descended and found Bennett waiting with the car before the door. As I grasped my host's hand in farewell he whispered confidentially. "Let's say nothing about it in future. I'll call and see you in town in a week or two--if I may." Mechanically I declared that I should be delighted, and mounting into the car we glided down the drive to the road. My brain was awhirl, and I was in no mood to talk. Therefore I sat with the frosty air blowing upon my fevered brow as we travelled back to Colchester. "I didn't know you intended staying the night, sir," Bennett ventured to remark just before we entered the town. "I didn't, Bennett." "But you sent word to me soon after we arrived, telling me to return at noon to-day. So I went back to 'The Cups,' and spent all this morning on the engines." "Who gave you that message?" I asked quickly.