I shaved and bathed luxuriously, and got into the
dress clothes and clean crackling shirt, which fitted me not so
badly. By the time I had finished the looking-glass showed a not
unpersonable young man.
Sir Walter awaited me in a dusky dining-room where a little
round table was lit with silver candles. The sight of him--so
respectable and established and secure, the embodiment of law and
government and all the conventions--took me aback and made me
feel an interloper. He couldn't know the truth about me, or he
wouldn't treat me like this. I simply could not accept his hospitality
on false pretences.
'I'm more obliged to you than I can say, but I'm bound to make
things clear,' I said. 'I'm an innocent man, but I'm wanted by the
police. I've got to tell you this, and I won't be surprised if you kick
me out.'
He smiled. 'That's all right. Don't let that interfere with your
appetite. We can talk about these things after dinner.'
I never ate a meal with greater relish, for I had had nothing all
day but railway sandwiches. Sir Walter did me proud, for we drank
a good champagne and had some uncommon fine port afterwards.
it made me almost hysterical to be sitting there, waited on by a
footman and a sleek butler, and remember that I had been living
for three weeks like a brigand, with every man's hand against me. I
told Sir Walter about tiger-fish in the Zambesi that bite off your
fingers if you give them a chance, and we discussed sport up and
down the globe, for he had hunted a bit in his day.
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