“Well, it’s this way,” said the little man.

Shakespeare and Pope have both emphasized the tediousness of a twice-told tale; the Episode Of the Stolen Scarab need not be repeated at this point, though it must be admitted that Mr. Peters’ version of it differed considerably from the calm, dispassionate description the author, in his capacity of official historian, has given earlier in the story.

In Mr. Peters’ version the Earl of Emsworth appeared as a smooth and purposeful robber, a sort of elderly Raffles, worming his way into the homes of the innocent, and only sparing that portion of their property which was too heavy for him to carry away.  Mr. Peters, indeed, specifically described the Earl of Emsworth as an oily old second-story man.

It took Ashe some little time to get a thorough grasp of the tangled situation; but he did it at last.

Only one point perplexed him.

“You want to hire somebody to go to this castle and get this scarab back for you.  I follow that.  But why must he go as your valet?”

“That’s simple enough.  You don’t think I’m asking him to buy a black mask and break in, do you?  I’m making it as easy for him as possible.  I can’t take a secretary down to the castle, for everybody knows that, now I’ve retired, I haven’t got a secretary; and if I engaged a new one and he was caught trying to steal my scarab from the earl’s collection, it would look suspicious.  But a valet is different.  Anyone can get fooled by a crook valet with bogus references.”

“I see.  There’s just one other point:  Suppose your accomplice does get caught—­what then?”

“That,” said Mr. Peters, “is the catch; and it’s just because of that I am offering good pay to my man.  We’ll suppose, for the sake of argument, that you accept the contract and get caught.  Well, if that happens you’ve got to look after yourself.  I couldn’t say a word.  If I did it would all come out, and so far as the breaking off of my daughter’s engagement to young Threepwood is concerned, it would be just as bad as though I had tried to get the thing back myself.

“You’ve got to bear that in mind.  You’ve got to remember it if you forget everything else.  I don’t appear in this business in any way whatsoever.  If you get caught you take what’s coming to you without a word.  You can’t turn round and say:  ’I am innocent.  Mr. Peters will explain all’—­because Mr. Peters certainly won’t.  Mr. Peters won’t utter a syllable of protest if they want to hang you.

“No; if you go into this, young man, you go into it with your eyes open.  You go into it with a full understanding of the risks—­because you think the reward, if you are successful, makes the taking of those risks worth while.  You and I know that what you are doing isn’t really stealing; it’s simply a tactful way of getting back my own property.  But the judge and jury will have different views.”

“I am beginning to understand,” said Ashe thoughtfully, “why you called the job delicate and dangerous.”