"But this kind of good man doesn't
commit that kind of crime. Well, shall we get on this omnibus?"
The great green vehicle was indeed plunging and lumbering along
the dim wide street towards us. Basil had stepped from the curb,
and for an instant it was touch and go whether we should all have
leaped on to it and been borne away to the restaurant and the
theatre.
"Basil," I said, taking him firmly by the shoulder, "I simply
won't leave this street and this house."
"Nor will I," said Rupert, glaring at it and biting his fingers.
"There's some black work going on there. If I left it I should
never sleep again."
Basil Grant looked at us both seriously.
"Of course if you feel like that," he said, "we'll investigate
further. You'll find it's all right, though. They're only two
young Oxford fellows. Extremely nice, too, though rather infected
with this pseudo-Darwinian business. Ethics of evolution and all
that."
"I think," said Rupert darkly, ringing the bell, "that we shall
enlighten you further about their ethics."
"And may I ask," said Basil gloomily, "what it is that you propose
to do?"
"I propose, first of all," said Rupert, "to get into this house;
secondly, to have a look at these nice young Oxford men; thirdly,
to knock them down, bind them, gag them, and search the house.
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