“On yourself? or on another party, meaning me?”

“On myself, my dear Pugh—­on myself!  At that point of my investigations I had not begun to think of you.  I lit up and had another smoke.”

“With what result?”

“Well, that depends on the standpoint from which you regard the thing.  From one point of view the result was wholly satisfactory—­I proved that the thing was drugged, and more.”

“Did you have another fall?”

“I did.  And something else besides.”

“On that account, I presume, you resolved to pass the treasure on to me?”

“Partly on that account, and partly on another.”

“On my word, I appreciate your generosity.  You might have labeled the thing as poison.”

“Exactly.  But then you must remember how often you have told me that you never smoke your specimens.”

“That was no reason why you shouldn’t have given me a hint that the thing was more dangerous than dynamite.”

“That did occur to me afterwards.  Therefore I called to supply the slight omission.”

“Slight omission, you call it!  I wonder what you would have called it if you had found me dead.”

“If I had known that you intended smoking it I should not have been at all surprised if I had.”

“Really, Tress, I appreciate your kindness more and more!  And where is this example of your splendid benevolence?  Have you pocketed it, regretting your lapse into the unaccustomed paths of generosity?  Or is it smashed to atoms?”

“Neither the one nor the other.  You will find the pipe upon the table.  I neither desire its restoration nor is it in any way injured.  It is merely an expression of personal opinion when I say that I don’t believe that it could be injured.  Of course, having discovered its deleterious properties, you will not want to smoke it again.  You will therefore be able to enjoy the consciousness of being the possessor of what I honestly believe to be the most remarkable pipe in existence.  Good day, Pugh.”

He was gone before I could say a word.  I immediately concluded, from the precipitancy of his flight, that the pipe was injured.  But when I subjected it to close examination I could discover no signs of damage.  While I was still eying it with jealous scrutiny the door reopened, and Tress came in again.

“By the way, Pugh, there is one thing I might mention, especially as I know it won’t make any difference to you.”

“That depends on what it is.  If you have changed your mind, and want the pipe back again, I tell you frankly that it won’t.  In my opinion, a thing once given is given for good.”

“Quite so; I don’t want it back again.  You may make your mind easy on that point.  I merely wanted to tell you why I gave it you.”

“You have told me that already.”

“Only partly, my dear Pugh—­only partly.  You don’t suppose I should have given you such a pipe as that merely because it happened to be drugged?  Scarcely!  I gave it you because I discovered from indisputable evidence, and to my cost, that it was haunted.”