But on that, of course, you
must please yourself.'
'We may want your assistance later on, MacGillivray,' Sir Walter
said as we left.
Then he turned me loose.
'Come and see me tomorrow, Hannay. I needn't tell you to keep
deadly quiet. If I were you I would go to bed, for you must have
considerable arrears of sleep to overtake. You had better lie low,
for if one of your Black Stone friends saw you there might be trouble.'
I felt curiously at a loose end. At first it was very pleasant to be a
free man, able to go where I wanted without fearing anything. I
had only been a month under the ban of the law, and it was quite
enough for me. I went to the Savoy and ordered very carefully a
very good luncheon, and then smoked the best cigar the house
could provide. But I was still feeling nervous. When I saw anybody
look at me in the lounge, I grew shy, and wondered if they were
thinking about the murder.
After that I took a taxi and drove miles away up into North
London. I walked back through fields and lines of villas and terraces
and then slums and mean streets, and it took me pretty nearly two
hours. All the while my restlessness was growing worse. I felt that
great things, tremendous things, were happening or about to
happen, and I, who was the cog-wheel of the whole business, was
out of it. Royer would be landing at Dover, Sir Walter would be
making plans with the few people in England who were in the
secret, and somewhere in the darkness the Black Stone would be
working.
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