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Well, that wasn't any manner of good to me, but just as I was going to give it up,

and climb down ignominiously, some one inside moved and threw his shadow on

my little bit of wall--and, by gum, it was Whittington!

"After that, my blood was up. I'd just got to get a look into that room. It was up to

me to figure out how. I noticed that there was a long branch running out from the

tree in the right direction. If I could only swarm about half-way along it, the

proposition would be solved. But it was mighty uncertain whether it would bear

my weight. I decided I'd just got to risk that, and I started. Very cautiously, inch

by inch, I crawled along. The bough creaked and swayed in a nasty fashion, and

it didn't do to think of the drop below, but at last I got safely to where I wanted to

be.

"The room was medium-sized, furnished in a kind of bare hygienic way. There

was a table with a lamp on it in the middle of the room, and sitting at that table,

facing towards me, was Whittington right enough. He was talking to a woman

dressed as a hospital nurse. She was sitting with her back to me, so I couldn't see

her face. Although the blinds were up, the window itself was shut, so I couldn't

catch a word of what they said. Whittington seemed to be doing all the talking,

and the nurse just listened. Now and then she nodded, and sometimes she'd

shake her head, as though she were answering questions. He seemed very

emphatic--once or twice he beat with his fist on the table. The rain had stopped

now, and the sky was clearing in that sudden way it does.

"Presently, he seemed to get to the end of what he was saying. He got up, and so

did she. He looked towards the window and asked something--I guess it was

whether it was raining. Anyway, she came right across and looked out. Just then

the moon came out from behind the clouds. I was scared the woman would catch

sight of me, for I was full in the moonlight. I tried to move back a bit. The jerk I

gave was too much for that rotten old branch. With an almighty crash, down it

came, and Julius P. Hersheimmer with it!"

Oh, Julius," breathed Tuppence, "how exciting! Go on."

Well, luckily for me, I pitched down into a good soft bed of earth--but it put me

out of action for the time, sure enough. The next thing I knew, I was lying in bed

with a hospital nurse (not Whittington's one) on one side of me, and a little black-

bearded man with gold glasses, and medical man written all over him, on the

other. He rubbed his hands together, and raised his eyebrows as I stared at him.

'Ah!' he said. 'So our young friend is coming round again. Capital. Capital.'

"I did the usual stunt. Said: 'What's happened?' And 'Where am I?' But I knew the

The Secret Adversary