"
"The account was to have been of a murder," accused Pendleton. "I can
see it in your face, so don't take the trouble to deny it. I had
hoped that your plunge into what you styled the 'literature of
assassination' would not last--that a good night's rest would turn
your thoughts into another groove."
"Perhaps it would have been so," said Ashton-Kirk. "But things have
happened in the meantime."
"And you don't appear at all put out that they have done so. That is
possibly the most distressing feature of the business. If anything,
you seem rather pleased. Of course, an odd murder or so is to be
expected in the ordinary course of events; but one hardly counts upon
one's intimates being concerned in them. It is disconcerting."
He crossed his legs and pursed up his lips.
"If you don't mind," added he, "now that I have expressed myself,
I'll listen to the details of whatever you have in view."
"There is not a great deal to tell," said Ashton-Kirk. "A man has been
murdered in Christie Place. It happens that I have an interest in the
matter; otherwise I would not think of dipping into it."
Pendleton looked at him reproachfully.
"After all, then," exclaimed he, "you are but a dilettante!
Assassination in the abstract is well enough, but you have a
disposition to shirk practical examples.
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