THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS
prospect across the moor through a gap in the I plantation, and revealed certain figures half a mile off straggling through the heather.
"Ah, I see," he said, and took up a pair of field glasses, through which he patiently scrutinised the figures.
"A fugitive from justice, eh? Well, we'll go into the matter at our leisure. Meantime, I object to my privacy being broken in upon by the clumsy rural policeman. Go into my study and you will see two doors facing you. Take the one to the left and close it behind you. You will be perfectly safe."
And this extraordinary man took up his pen again,
I did as I was bid, and found myself in a little dark chamber which smelled of chemicals and was lit only by a tiny window high up in the wall. The door had swung behind me with a click like the door of a safe. Once again I had found an unexpected sanctuary.
All the same I was not comfortable. There was something about the old gentleman which puzzled and rather terrified me. He had
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