Billy gave him a superior leer with one eye closed: "You may not know all there is to know about that," he said impudently,
"where did you say he lived?"
The man shrugged his shoulders indifferently.
"Suit yourself," he said, "I doubt if they'll see you. They have had
nothing but a stream of vagrants for two days and they're about sick of
it. They live on the next estate and the gateway is right around that
corner."
"I ain't no vagrant," glared Billy, and limped away with old trusty
under his left arm.
No one molested him as he walked in the arched and ivied gateway, for
the gate keeper was off on a little private errand of his own at a
place where prohibition had not yet penetrated. Billy felt too heavy
and dizzy to mount his wheel, but he leaned on the saddle as he walked
and tried to get things straight in his head. He oughtn't to have gone
to sleep, that's what he oughtn't. But this job would soon be over and
then he would hike it for home. Gee! Wouldn't home feel good! And Aunt
Saxon would bathe his head with wych hazel and make cold things for him
to drink! Aw, Gee!
The pedigreed dogs of which the place boasted a number came suddenly
down upon him in a great flare of noise, but dogs were always his
friends, why should he worry? A pity he couldn't stop to make friends
with them just now. Some dogs! Here pup! Gee! What a dog to own! The
dogs whined and fawned upon him. Pedigree or no pedigree, rags and
whiskey and dirt notwithstanding, they knew a man when they saw one,
and Billy hadn't batted an eyelid when they tried their worst tramp
barks on him. They wagged their silky tails and tumbled over each other
to get first place to him, and so escorted proudly he dropped old
trusty by a clump of imported rhododendrons and limped up the marble
steps to the wide vistas of circular piazzas that stretched to
seemingly infinite distances, and wondered if he should ever find the
front door.
An imposing butler appeared with a silver tray, and stood aghast.
"Shafton live here?" inquired Billy trying to look business like. "Like
to see him er the missus a minute," he added as the frowning vision
bowed. The butler politely but firmly told him that the master and
mistress had other business and no desire to see him. The young
gentleman had come home, and the reward had been withdrawn. If it was
about the reward he had come he could go down to the village and find
the detective. The house people didn't want to interview any more
callers.