"No," answered Mallows, wondering what all this was to lead to. "Of course not; I'm sure _you_ don't think so, eh?" Dorrington, as he spoke, looked in the other's face with a sly leer, and Mallows began to feel altogether uncomfortable. "But there's one other thing," Dorrington pursued, taking out his pocket-book, though still maintaining his leer in Mallows's face--"one other thing. And by the way, _will_ you have another piece of court plaster now I've got it out? Don't say no. It's a pleasure to oblige you, really." And Dorrington, his leer growing positively fiendish, tapped the side of his nose with the case of court plaster. [Illustration: "TAPPED THE SIDE OF HIS NOSE WITH THE CASE."] Mallows paled under the paint, gasped, and felt for support. Dorrington laughed pleasantly. "Come, come," he said, "don't be frightened. I admire your cleverness, Mr. Mallows, and I shall arrange everything pleasantly, as you will see. And as to the court plaster, if you'd rather not have it you needn't. You have another piece on now, I see. Why didn't you get them to paint it over at Clarkson's? They really did the face very well, though! And there again you were quite right. Such a man as yourself was likely to be recognised in such a place as Birmingham, and that would have been unfortunate for both of us--_both_ of us, I assure you.... Man alive, don't look as though I was going to cut your throat! I'm not, I assure you. You're a smart man of business, and I happen to have spotted a little operation of yours, that's all. I shall arrange easy terms for you.... Pull yourself together and talk business before the men come back. Here, sit on this bench." Mallows, staring amazedly in Dorrington's face, suffered himself to be led to a bench, and sat on it. "Now," said Dorrington, "the first thing is a little matter of a hundred pounds. That was the reward you promised if I should discover who broke Gillett's arm last night. Well, I _have_. Do you happen to have any notes with you? If not, make it a cheque." "But--but--how--I mean who--who----" "Tut, tut! Don't waste time, Mr. Mallows. _Who?_ Why, yourself, of course. I knew all about it before I left you last night, though it wasn't quite convenient to claim the reward then, for reasons you'll understand presently. Come, that little hundred!" "But what--what proof have you? I'm not to be bounced like this, you know." Mr. Mallows was gathering his faculties again. "Proof? Why, man alive, be reasonable! Suppose I have none--none at all? What difference does that make? Am I to walk out and tell your fellow directors where I have met you--here--or am I to have that hundred? More, am I to publish abroad that Mr. Paul Mallows is the moving spirit in the rotten 'Avalanche Bicycle Company'?" "Well," Mallows answered reluctantly, "if you put it like that----"