“Invisible insects of diabolical activity swarm in this place. I am tickled and twitched all over. Mentally, I have now committed a burglary under the meanest circumstances, and the myrmidons of justice are at my heels.”

“I am quite as bad,” said Lightwood, sitting up facing him, with a tumbled head; after going through some wonderful evolutions, in which his head had been the lowest part of him. “This restlessness began with me, long ago. All the time you were out, I felt like Gulliver with the Lilliputians firing upon him.”

“It won’t do, Mortimer. We must get into the air; we must join our dear friend and brother, Riderhood. And let us tranquillize ourselves by making a compact. Next time (with a view to our peace of mind) we’ll commit the crime, instead of taking the criminal. You swear it?”

“Certainly.”

“Sworn! Let Tippins look to it. Her life’s in danger.”