"You will oblige me by keeping your hands above your head. Thank you. Now permit me to introduce myself. My name is Professor Stenson." "Yes, sir," repeated Mr. Bates hoarsely. "And yours, my friend?" "William Bates, sir." "And if you won't think me inquisitive, Mr. Bates, may I ask what you are doing in my house at this time in the morning?" Mr. Bates wriggled, his eyes glued on the muzzle of the revolver. "The fact is, sir," he jerked out, "I was hungry, sir." "Ah," said the Professor, "and I suppose you mistook The Firs for an hotel. That is the worst of modern architecture--it has no distinctive note." With this statement Mr. Bates apparently agreed. At all events, he offered no comment on it. When he spoke again, which he did after a brief pause, his topic was of an altogether different nature. "If you please, sir," he stammered nervously, "would you mind not pointing that thing at me, sir? It might go off." "I have no particular wish to point it at you," replied the Professor. "The posture is both fatiguing and ridiculous. If you will take your coat off and place it on the floor, so that I can see that you are not armed, I shall be delighted to assume a less martial attitude. Be good enough to keep your hands from your pockets while you are doing it, or I shall shoot you without hesitation." With shaking fingers Mr. Bates proceeded to disrobe, being very careful to hold his tattered garment by the extreme edge. Having shed it, he stood in his shirt-sleeves, looking about as dishevelled and miserable a housebreaker as ever cracked a crib. His captor gazed at him thoughtfully for a moment, and then lowered his weapon. Mr. Bates breathed an audible sigh of relief. "And now we are at our ease," said the Professor, "I should be interested to hear a little more about you. If you won't think me insulting, your methods, from the technical point of view, appear to be deplorably amateurish. Why didn't you lock the kitchen door?" There was something in the Professor's tone which made Mr. Bates feel a shade less like a trapped rat. He even drew himself up with a pathetic effort at courage. "I assure you, sir," he said earnestly, "I am no burglar." The Professor looked at him quizzically. "I am inclined to agree with you, Mr. Bates," he said. "It was very wrong of me to come in here, sir, I admit, but I was hungry, sir--desperately hungry--and I knew I should find some food inside. I assure you, sir, I had no intention of taking away anything else." "And may I inquire why you were so certain about the contents of my kitchen? Indeed, how did you even know it was the kitchen?" "If you please, sir, it was hearing what Mr. Andrew said at the inn last night." A sudden look of illumination flashed across the Professor's face.