The Little Nugget

his state of affairs could not last for ever. The school term was drawing to a close. Soon I should be free from the propinquity which paralysed my efforts to fi

le Nugget, she must learn to do without happiness, li

nsidered myself responsible to Audrey for the safeguarding of the Little Nugget, and no altered relations between us could affect my position. Perha

de no move. He was the very model of a butler. But our dealings with one another in London had left me vigilant, and his inaction did not disarm me. It sprang from

ery simplicity of his methods that trick

ble in Mr Abney's study after dinner of an evening to drink coffee. It was a ceremony, like most of the ceremonies at an establishment such as a school, where things

m, I was seized with a prejudice against coffee. I had been sleeping badly fo

where I lay down in the dark to wrestle with a more than usually pronounced fit of depression wh

n ajar, began to open slowly, I did not become instantly on the alert. Perhaps it was some sound, barely audible, that aroused me from my torpor an

d alert. And then, very quiet

her's usual cautious methods. This strolling in and helping oneself was certainly kidnapping de luxe. In the small hours I could have understood it; but at nine

, he would switch on the electric ligh

I do for you

icult situations he took the shock badly. He uttered

mself. Almost immediately he was the suave, chatty Sam Fisher who

ou would not keep on lying quietly on that bed while I went into the other room and abstracted

an

. I mere

in any case? Suppose we

rs,' said Sam confidently. 'You did

n't-no

his head r

offee every night regularly for two months, you would pass it up tonight of all nigh

ad brought

drug th

that one sip would h

e had time to say "Go

had nothing on my c

, we

towards

light on, or would

ight fall aslee

re, and wake up. There are moments, young man, when you b

pau

t or two in my locker. We shall see wha

bile will splash me with mud. A heavily furred plutocrat will stare haughti

hile you can, sonny. You win so far, but

h a certain sad dignity. A

n does not impress you. Would it make things easier if I wer

n the

handsome

afraid I'm not dea

is head appeared, staring at me round the doo

I didn't give you your c

ly this time. I heard his st