"And I thought you would like to know the coast was clear; so I came up
to tell you," concluded Pike.
"Thank you for your trouble," said Mr. Elster. "I shall not forget it."
"You'll remember it, perhaps, if a question arises touching that shed,"
spoke the man. "I may need a word sometime with Lord Hartledon."
"I'll remember it, Pike. Here, wait a moment. Is Thomas Pike your real
name?"
"Well, I conclude it is. Pike was the name of my father and mother. As to
Thomas--not knowing where I was christened, I can't go and look at the
register; but they never called me anything but Tom. Did you wish to know
particularly?"
There was a tone of mockery in the man's answer, not altogether
acceptable to his hearer; and he let him go without further hindrance.
But the man turned back in an instant of his own accord.
"I dare say you are wanting to know why I did you this little turn, Mr.
Elster. I have been caught in corners myself before now; and if I can
help anybody to get out of them without trouble to myself, I'm willing to
do it. And to circumvent these law-sharks comes home to my spirit as
wholesome refreshment."
Mr. Pike finally departed. He took the lonely way, and only struck into
the high-road opposite his own domicile, the shed. Passing round it, he
hovered at its rude door--the one he had himself made, along with the
ruder window--and then, treading softly, he stepped to the low stile in
the hedge, which had for years made the boundary between the waste land
on which the shed stood and Clerk Gum's garden.
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