g the evening paper?" she inquired.

"Sorry, but I didn't, Mrs. Klopton," McKnight called. "The Cubs won,
three to nothing." He listened, grinning, as she moved away with little
irritated rustles of her black silk gown.

I finished my packing, changed my collar and was ready to go. Then very
cautiously we put out the light and opened the shutters. The window
across was merely a deeper black in the darkness. It was closed and
dirty. And yet, probably owing to Richey's suggestion, I had an uneasy
sensation of eyes staring across at me. The next moment we were at the
door, poised for flight.

"We'll have to run for it," I said in a whisper. "She's down there with
a package of some sort, sandwiches probably. And she's threatened me
with overshoes for a month. Ready now!"

I had a kaleidoscopic view of Mrs. Klopton in the lower hall, holding
out an armful of such traveling impedimenta as she deemed essential,
while beside her, Euphemia, the colored housemaid, grinned over a
white-wrapped box.

"Awfully sorry-no time-back Sunday," I panted over my shoulder. Then the
door closed and the car was moving away.

McKnight bent forward and stared at the facade of the empty house next
door as we passed. It was black, staring, mysterious, as empty buildings
are apt to be.

"I'd like to hold a post-mortem on that corpse of a house," he said
thoughtfully. "By George, I've a notion to get out and take a look."

"Somebody after the brass pipes," I scoffed. "House has been empty for a
year."

With one hand on the steering wheel McKnight held out the other for my
cigarette case. "Perhaps," he said; "but I don't see what she would want
with brass pipe."

"A woman!" I laughed outright. "You have been looking too hard at the
picture in the back of your watch, that's all. There's an experiment
like that: if you stare long enough--"

But McKnight was growing sulky: he sat looking rigidly ahead, and he
did not speak again until he brought the Cannonball to a stop at the
station. Even then it was only a perfunctory remark. He went through the
gate with me, and with five minutes to spare, we lounged and smoked
in the train shed. My mind had slid away from my surroundings and had
wandered to a polo pony that I couldn't afford and intended to buy
anyhow. Then McKnight shook off his taciturnity.

"For heaven's sake, don't look so martyred," he burst out; "I know
you've done all the traveling this summer. I know you're missing a game
to