Percy made his way to a house in Water Street Wahroonga, and introduced himself to his host Colin Geoffries.

"I must apologise for my late arrival. I'm Percy Dale. One of your guests said that you approved of her inviting Ingrid and myself, even though we haven't met."

"Yes, do come in."

Percy  was soon seated beside his girlfriend, enjoying the atmosphere of the party.

"You, dear Ingrid, are the reason that I would not wish to have been any later. Would you like to hear why I was late?"
"I don't mind," she said, in the same volume as that which Percy had used, in order to avoid sharing the details with the other guests.

"Well Ingrid, it does nothing for my peace of mind, to be reminded of the fact that none of the girls in all the earth can match the effect that you have on me."

"Why should it matter, since you have me?" said Ingrid.

"Not to me does it matter, my sweetest. It matters, that there are lots of unfriendly sorts - I exaggerated a lot in saying that none were different - who might make the idea of pleasant courtship nigh on impossible for any Sneaky Similars who exist out there somewhere."

"Oh yes, I see. Is Canton Algor a Sneaky Similar?"

"Yes he is, and the girls on tonight's late train would not have been to his liking, I'm convinced. They worsened their case by the choice of those who did approve of their discouraging personas. I might have left off with noticing those things, but somebody interpreted an unfriendly smile as an invitation to start the test which proved that a railway carriage is as fabulously suitable a mobile battleground as ever was seen fit to be substituted for a boxing ring."

"You don't even have a scratch on you as usual," she marvelled, "What will you do, if the numbers prove to be less than manageable one day?"

"Thirteen isn't such a bad number actually," said Percy, "It's only one away form Valentine's Day."

"Valentines don't please me at the moment, Percy."

"Do you mean that I have finally done something to get you off side? Do tell me what it is. I must make a note of self-reproach."

"Not you, you clowning delightful boy. I'm talking about the way that your host and mine reacted to my presence here tonight. I came on my own as arranged, because I knew you would be tied up in North Sydney. Since there was nobody else to let in, our host Colin Geoffries asked if I would consider falling in love with him. I apologised for the lateness of my escort and said that you were also my partner in romance. Having avoided his touch with that remark, I settled down on a seat, amazed at the gall of his opening offer. I found him sitting beside me saying ,'Ingrid, I know that you are going to drive a hard bargain, but I am filled with an unchanging opinion that you were meant for me. I know now that you are already with somebody else. So I am prepared to offer you everything you could imagine, in order that we might be together'."

"And how did you cope? It must have been taxing."

"I coped with the utterance of another negative response. Let's avoid him, if we can, until we go."

"I would enjoy the chance to give him a home at the local council tip, but I think we should use my feelings as an indication that to remain here would entertain a hypocritical attitude to our host."

Ingrid and Percy soon said farewell to the friend who had invited them, and made their way to the door, without asking for the attention of a host.

"We'll show ourselves out, Ingrid," whispered Percy.

Colin declined the opportunity of allowing them to do so.

"Please don't leave, Ingrid," he said, approaching the door.

"The decision to do so has already been affirmed," said the Sneaky Spy.

"Ingrid, I can make this a night to remember, if you will only stay."

Colin's hand now rested on her left shoulder.

And then it didn't.

It  all happened with a speed which made things hard to follow, but when he again took stock of the situation, the hand was shaking that of the Sneaky Spy.

Percy smiled pleasantly, for the benefit of Colin's other guests as he said, "Dear fellow, you'll sleep so much more comfortably tonight, if you re-join your remaining visitors now."

"What do you mean?" asked Colin.

"I mean that - unless you wish to go the painful way of three of my reasons for disliking school - you would do well to forget about any further attempts to detain Ingrid."

It was unavoidable.

Colin had to let them go. The winding pathway which led to the front gate was a long one. To stray from it would mean walking as many similar curves and bends, although the unconventional route would lead around wide trees and more than one garden fountain.

"And it will also surprise the likely sources of trouble that we could meet," thought the Sneaky Spy, as he led Ingrid across the grass.

"Hey, is it worth giving him anything else about which to complain?" whispered Ingrid.

"It is, if we're to be sure of reaching the street safely," said the Sneaky Spy.

"What? Do you think he would-"

"Do anything to separate us? Yes, or maybe the grave is one realm that he wouldn't object to our sharing. There's something about a persistent gall such as his which just is not what it should be. So let's not risk ending up as the live lovers who aren't."

Ingrid gasped at the grim recognition on Percy's face, as he pointed to a sniper in the distance, adjusting his sights for the path which was now to their right.

"To the left," whispered Percy.

The girl was on his left as they ducked behind a tree.

"What can we do?" thought Ingrid, before whispering the same four words to a man upon whom she had come to rely as an answer to problems of this nature.

"The first one's meant for a Percy Dale who won't actually be coming down from that path. I had not planned to let him fire the first one though."

"Is this what you were expecting, when we took to the grass?"

"I was expecting that our forthright former host had some sinister reasons for what seemed like a few too many bell cords in the front room's wall opening. I'll use these trees in front to get close behind him. You stay behind the last tree until I have done the job. Tomorrow morning, Colin Geoffries will probably be terminating the employment of a drowsy undernourished garden loiterer, who makes a very poor hit man."
"Be careful, darling. Don't let him turn around and surprise you."

"He would need to hear me to do that," said the Sneaky Spy, "and casting sounds before snipers is not one of my policies in the field."

The Sneaky Spy waited until he had reached the last tree, before sliding his tranquiliser gun out of its hidden holster. It proved to be of no greater difficulty to walk within five feet of the sniper before projecting the dart which made the man let go of his rifle. Percy decided that the fallen man's weapon would serve adequately as a payment for the inconveniences that he and Ingrid had endured. He signalled her to join him, and they left the fellow sleeping on the lawn.

"None of which will please Colin, when he's through with his predictable task of fishing our friend for our addresses. Do you think he will get them?"

"Probably," said Ingrid, "but I will be safe with you."

"Ordinairy Man Manor is built like two houses, joined together by an upstairs hallway and a downstairs hallway. It shall be used, for the moment, as  two houses. I have your safety in mind. You can have the bedroom in which I stayed while visiting as a boy."

"Do you think we're going to have more problems with Colin?"

"Undoubtedly. He's more trouble than the average romantic opportunist."

"I'm sorry that he must be smitten by a longing for what he cannot have," said Ingrid , "but my disgust is beginning to outlast my sympathy."

"And my concern over his readily available supply of live-in hired help has outlasted my annoyance at his refusal to take your 'no' for an answer."

"That's why you're letting me move in for a while?"

"Just until this case is over," said Percy.

"You know, maybe you could have kept our addresses a definite secret if we'd spoken to our friend-"

"That would endanger a friend for one thing, and besides, if Colin Geoffries has to be dealt with - and he does, Ingrid - then let him come. It'll save me the trouble of walking back to Water Street. Our past Ordinairy Man Manor adventures have proven that the naughty ones never do well on my home territory. The risks would be mostly Colin's, you know."

"Do you think he's devious?"

"Definitely, but the greater danger comes from coupling his inclinations towards you with his willingness to take ruthless measures, motivated by anger, frustration, and a refusal to be crossed up, even by a Percy Dale."

"Or a Sneaky Spy," said Ingrid, "I know you removed your dart as soon as it had done its work, but he'll say enough in the morning, to let Colin know that you're as ordinairy a boyfriend as he is an ordinairy unwanted corner of a love triangle."

"So the rest of Water Street finds out that they have shared a neighbourhood with a gangster with a broken heart. Things would be so much worse for the whole suburb if I chose not to get involved. Apart from which, his next attack will probably happen here, and my grandparents would expect me to take good care of this place."

"So the Sneaky Spy goes into action."

"Yes, but the more important reason for doing so is to take excellent care of you."

The conversation had outlasted their ride in Ingrid's car. It continued in Percy's living room.

"If they do come tonight, they can't even use the lower rooves without disrupting my slumber. I'll rig up the usual noisy traps on the insides of doorways down here. Such devices are like burglar alarms, only they don't need to be turned off. It saves disturbing the neighbours. I tend to think better in a manhunt if I only hear a brief bang to announce the arrival of an unwanted guest. Continuous sirens must be switched off, and that could be risky, if the switch were in the line of the housebreaker's weapon's fire."

"Percy, you're doing all this to protect me?"

"I'm doing all this to protect me," he whispered, "and don't be surprised at the sudden inaudibility of my voice to somebody standing outside the room,  because my reflecting mirrors inside the open drinks cabinet have just revealed - in such a way as the naughty one could never know - a peeper and his popgun outside the western window. Look anywhere around the room you like, except in his moonlit direction, and be thankful that tonight's tale began unfolding under a full moon. Otherwise I doubt that we would have seen him in my darkened garden, with the lights on in here and no other forms of luminance shining onto that triangle of jacaranda and assorted geranium bushes which links the terrace steps and those which lead up to the front door. That fool outside is about to make the same mistake as my old school enemies: that of underestimating the Sneaky Spy."

For all of the time that he had been whispering, his body language had deliberately lied to the armed watcher, suggesting that sweet nothings were all of the subject matter which he had offered to Ingrid.

"Now tell me - at a normal speaking volume - that you love me for the things I say in such touching moments, and then sit in the armchair which has its back to the danger window. I'll make like a boyfriend and butler in one, only to get the drop on our friend outside."

Ingrid accepted his advice without question, knowing that it was to preserve her own physical safety. Why the shots had not been fired already was something of a partial mystery. Geoffries might well - having acquired Percy's address in the manner previously speculated by the Sneaky Spy - have instructed his stripling to spare Ingrid. Another possibility was that the gun was only a safety precaution, should the watcher receive the impression that he too was under surveillance. The Sneaky Spy had taken great pains to be sure of not giving such an impression.

As Percy walked out to the kitchen, the watcher stared at the back of Ingrid's chair awaiting any further signs of movement. Wisely, Ingrid had sat forward in the chair and kept her high head from reaching above the back of the chair. The watcher studied every attractive item of the splendid room, hoping for a clue as to Ingrid's immediate intentions. When the boredom and frustration had begun to set in, he was at last surprised by the familiar feeling of a metal object prodding his back.

"Little Peeping Tommy and his Pipping Tommygun. Part with the latter!" said the Sneaky Spy.

The gun landed by his feet, and the Sneaky Spy remained motionless.

"Now there's an old school of combat regulation," he began, "which strongly advises against standing close to a person whom you are threatening with gunfire. Further to this theory is the idea that a person with a gun pressed against his back could cause the wielder to miss, by rapidly turning ninety degrees, giving him the opportunity to seize command of the combat game. I've never reassured myself one way or the other about the likelihood of such lessons containing a ring of truth, but I might warn you that  - even disarmed - I could best the paltry likes of your efforts with the greatest of simplicity. I suspect that I know already; but I would much like to hear of your confession of the reason for inflicting your putrid presence upon the innocent geraniums which have made their happy home in this garden for many years without disruption."

"I'm supposed to find out if the blond girl is going to stay here tonight," offered the moonlit captive without the slightest hint of resistance.

The Sneaky Spy believed him. It would not have perturbed Percy, if his mind had entertained any doubts about the authenticity of this latest example of that which was said to benefit the soul. The Sneaky Spy had altered his plans at the very moment when he had uttered the words "I'm doing all this to protect me." That would be discussed in more depth later, but first he would give the man the impression that no changes had been made.

"Well now that you have come, been seen, and also been caught and conquered, you can leave without ever returning," said the Sneaky Spy, "As your peeping has no doubt revealed to you, there is a girl inside my house, whose liberty - along with my life - have already been endangered tonight. I offer no apologies, nor even any admission of involvement in whatever sleeping arrangements were forced on Colin's hitman. However, I mentioned a girl being in danger, and at the moment, you are a significant portion of the indecent reasons for that danger. If you or anyone else from Colin's collection of disreputable party animals pays another visit here in my lifetime, he will be risking the span of his own. Now leave your weapon as payment for my troubles, and depart ... without damaging the life laden floral arrangements out here!"

The Sneaky Spy followed his visitor to the front gateway, and then returned to the laundry doorway and retraced his steps to the living room.

"I hope he thinks you're spending the night here," said the Sneaky Spy, "but we both know that neither my place nor yours are terribly safe for the person Colin admires tonight. How would you feel about doing some voluntary work for Larmont Orphanage?"

"Percy, you're brilliant. That's the perfect place to hide. It's addressed in both Burns Road and the currently frightening Water Street."

"It is. First we'll have to smuggle you in there in a way that no roaming Colin Geoffries clan members would ever detect. After that, you can stay indoors at Larmont until all of this is cleared up. If you need anything, I shall not even enter the place myself. Kyair can run innocent shopping errands, but must not risk being seen coming to my place here. If I need to communicate with you myself, I will employ the telephone."

"So when is the big move?"
"It will have to be tonight. I can't formulate the next stage in the proceedings, unless I sleep well, and that won't happen until I know you're safe at Larmont."

"But how will you get me there? If we're being watched, they will know as soon as we leave the property," said Ingrid.

"The one thing that they could never know - because we never told the person who asked us along to Colin's party - is your original address. We will have to climb the tennis court fence, creep through what to me is some old familiar territory without disrupting its new owners and head out into Burns Road. Then it's an easy secluded walk to Larmont Orphanage. I'll just telephone somebody."

"Why don't you come with me, Percy?"

"To Larmont?"
"Yes."

"Because I can operate things better from here."

"You could take your gadgets to Larmont with you and sleep on Kyair's floor with a lilo and sleeping bag."

"And I'd risk my house, Ingrid. Remember, while you're safe - which I insist is the first and most important object of the game - the ones who have bothered us already this evening will undoubtedly strike at this place again, expecting to find you. I'll have to be here to spoil it for them."