Page:Buchan - The Thirty-Nine Steps (Grosset Dunlap, 1915).djvu/134

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ADVENTURE OF BALD ARCHÆOLOGIST

"So?" he said, still smiling. "But of course you have others. We won't quarrel about a name."

I was pulling myself together now and I reflected that my garb, lacking coat and waistcoat and collar, would, at any rate, not betray me. I put on my surliest face and shrugged my shoulders.

"I suppose you're going to give me up after all, and I call it a damned dirty trick. My God, I wish I had never seen that cursed motor-car! Here's the money and be damned to you," and I flung four sovereigns on the table.

He opened his eyes a little. "Oh, no, I shall not give you up. My friends and I will have a little private settlement with you, that is all. You know a little too much, Mr. Hannay. You are a clever actor, but not quite clever enough."

He spoke with assurance, but I could see the dawning of a doubt in his mind.

"O, for God's sake stop jawing," I cried. "Everything's against me. I haven't had a

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