in the street be as though they had never been.  He had been brutally attacked, and had thought it best to say nothing on the subject.  He would not allow his secret, such as it was, to be wormed out of him.  Scarborough was endeavoring to extort from him that which he had resolved to conceal; and he determined at last that he would not become a puppet in his hands.  “I don’t see why you should care a straw about it,” said Scarborough.

“Nor do I.”

“At any rate you repeat your denial.  It will be well that I should let my father know that he is mistaken, and also that ass Prodgers.  Of course, with my father it is sheer curiosity.  Indeed, if he thought that you were keeping Mountjoy under lock and key, he would only admire your dexterity in so preserving him.  Any bold line of action that was contrary to the law recommends itself to his approbation.  But Prodgers has a lurking idea that he should like to arrest you.”

“What for?”

“Simply because he thinks you know something that he doesn’t know.  As he’s a detective, that, in his mind, is quite enough for arresting any man.  I may as well give him my assurance, then, that he is mistaken.”

“Why should your assurance go for more than mine?  Give him nothing of the kind.”

“I may give him, at any rate, my assurance that I believe your word.”

“If you do believe it, you can do so.”

“But you repeat your assertion that you saw nothing of Mountjoy just before his disappearance?”

“This is an amount of cross-questioning which I do not take in good part, and to which I will not submit.”  Here Scarborough affected to laugh loudly.  “I know nothing of your brother, and care almost as little.  He has professed to admire a young lady to whom I am not indifferent, and has, I believe, expressed a wish to make her his wife.  He is also her cousin, and the lady in question has, no doubt, been much interested about him.  It is natural that she should be so.”

“Quite natural—­seeing that she has been engaged to him for twelve months.”

“Of that I know nothing.  But my interest about your brother has been because of her.  You can explain all this about your brother if you please, or can let it alone.  But for myself, I decline to answer any more questions.  If Prodgers thinks that he can arrest me, let him come and try.”

“The idea of your flying into a passion because I have endeavored to explain it all to you!  At any rate I have your absolute denial, and that will enable me to deal both with my father and Prodgers.”  To this Harry made no answer, and the two young men walked back to Tretton together without many more words between them.