_Adams._ You think nobody knows anything about 'orses but yourself, you do; but if you're meanin' to make a story out o' this against me, why, I shall tell it _my_ way, that's all!
_Checkley._ It was you he made a fool of, not me--and I can prove it--there!
[_They dispute the point, with rising warmth, for some time._
_Adams_ (_calming down_). Well, see 'ere, Checkley, I dunno, come to think of it, as either on us 'll show up partickler smart over this 'ere job; and it strikes me we'd better both agree to keep quiet about it, eh? (CHECKLEY _acquiesces, not unwillingly_.) And I think I'll take a look in at the 'ousekeeper's-room presently, and try if I can't drop a hint to old Tredwell about that smooth-tongued chap, for it's my belief he ain't down 'ere for no good!
_In a Gallery outside the Verney Chamber._ TIME--_About_ 10.15 P.M.
_Undershell_ (_to himself, as he emerges from a back staircase_). I suppose this _is_ the corridor? The boy said the name of the room was painted up over the door.... Ah, there it is; and, yes, Mr. Spurrell's name on a card.... The door is ajar; he is probably waiting for me inside. I shall meet him quite temperately, treat it simply as a---- (_He enters; a waste-paper basket, containing an ingenious arrangement of liquid and solid substances, descends on his head._) What the devil do you mean, sir, by this outrageous----? All dark! Nobody here! Is there a general conspiracy to insult me? Have I been lured up here for a brutal---- (SPURRELL _bursts in_.) Ah, _there_ you are, sir! (_With cold dignity, through the lattice-work of the basket._) Will you kindly explain what this means?
_Spurrell._ Wait till I strike a light. (_After lighting a pair of candles._) Well, sir, if _you_ don't know why you're ramping about like that under a waste-paper basket, I can hardly be expected to----
_Undershell._ I was determined not to remove it until somebody came in; it fell on my head the moment I entered; it contained something in a soap-dish, which has wetted my face. You may laugh, sir, but if this is a sample of your aristocratic----
_Spurrell._ If you could only see yourself! But _I_'d nothing to do with it, 'pon my word I hadn't; only just this minute got away from the hall.... _I_ know! It's that sulky young beggar, Bearpark. I remember he slipped off on some excuse or other just now. He must have come in here and fixed that affair up for me--confound him!