THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS
the police should come between me and whom I am delighted to honour. This is a lucky morning for you, Mr. Richard Hannay."
As he spoke his eyelids seemed to tremble and to fall a little over his keen grey eyes. In a flash the phrase of Scudder's came back to me, when he had described the man he most dreaded in the world. He had said that he "could hood his eyes like a hawk." Then I saw that I had walked straight into the enemy's headquarters.
My first impulse was to throttle the old ruffian and make for the open air. He seemed to anticipate my intention, for he smiled gently and nodded to the door behind me. I turned and saw two men-servants who had me covered with pistols.
He knew my name, but he had never seenme before. And as the reflection darted across my mind, I saw a slender chance.
"I don't know what you mean," I said roughly. "And who are you calling Richard Hannay? My name's Ainslie."
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