Roger: "But I _didn’t_ carry on—I—I—really must protest against these assumptions——" _Molyneux_: "_All_ right. Keep your hair on.... Don’t get into a wax.... I’m only talkin’ for your own good.... But tell us about this cipher." _Roger_ (still with an angry flush): "What _can I_ tell? I arrive at Medina and am told all in a hurry to re-organize the Consulate there. There was no one but an Indian clerk in charge. I simply take him over. I put my cipher in the safe, but I had to leave the key with the clerk when at very short notice I started for up-country to warn these confounded missionaries.... Wish to _God_ I’d paid no heed to your instructions" ("I _say_, old chap, draw it mild ... and mind what you’re doin’ with that cigar-ash." Roger strides to the fireplace and throws away the cigar into it.) "I wish to God," he continues, "I’d left ’em alone to stand the racket if the Arabs _did_ come. However, what I mean to say is, I only set out to do what I was told to do and couldn’t foresee how long it would take. I didn’t get back to my Consulate till last April. _How_ can I tell what happened to the clerk or the cipher or the money? I paid up the deficit.... How do I know what those Bazzards were up to? Mrs. Bazzard——" _Molyneux_ (his manner has insensibly become stiffer and more ceremonious): "I think we’ll leave the Bazzards out of it. At any rate they aren’t here to defend themselves. We must refer the whole matter to Dewburn for inquiry. Meantime here you are on leave and I dare say badly wanting a rest. My advice is: go down to the country.... Your father lives in the country, doesn’t he?" (Roger nods.) "Well, go down and rusticate a bit and take Mrs. Brentham with you. In a week or two the newspapers and the Nonconformist Conscience will be in full cry after something else. As to whether you should go back, we must leave that to the Old Man. He may think a change of scene advisable. Any use asking you to a bachelor dinner? My wife’s out of town just now."