t there wasn't never nobody there
till half-past nine. Over the hotel wire Sonya's colorful tones held
enough surprise to remind Laurie that he could hardly hope that even
Rodney's budding romance would drive him to the side of the lady so
early in the morning.

He hung up the receiver with a groan of disgust, and busied himself
packing a small bag and selecting a greatcoat for his journey. Also, he
went to a drawer and took out the little pistol he had taken away from
Doris in the tragic moment of their first meeting.

Holding it in his hand, he hesitated. Heretofore, throughout his short
but varied life, young Devon had depended upon his well-trained fists to
protect him from the violence of others. But when those others were the
kind who went in for chloroform--and this time there was Doris to think
of. He dropped the revolver into his pocket, and shot into the elevator
and out on the ground floor with the expedition to which the operator
was now becoming accustomed.

His car was a two-seated "racer," of slender and beautiful lines. As he
took his place at the wheel, the machine pulsated like a living thing,
panting with a passionate desire to be off. Laurie's wild young heart
felt the same longing, but his year in New York had taught him respect
for its traffic laws and this was no time to take chances. Carefully,
almost sedately, he made his way to Third Avenue, then up to the
Queensboro Bridge, and across that mighty runway to Long Island. Here
his stock of patience, slender at the best, was exhausted. With a deep
breath he "let her out" to a singing speed of sixty miles an hour.

A cloud had obscured the sun, quite appropriately, he subconsciously
felt, and there were flakes of snow in the air. As he sped through the
gray atmosphere, the familiar little towns he knew seemed to come
forward to meet him, like rapidly projected pictures on a screen.
Flushing, Bayside, Little Neck, Manhasset, Roslyn, Glenhead, one by one
they floated past. He made the run of twenty-two miles in something
under thirty minutes, to the severe disapproval of several policemen,
who shouted urgent invitations to him to slow down. One of these was so
persistent that Laurie prepared to obey; but just as the heavy hand of
the law was about to fall, its representative recognized young Devon,
and waved him on with a forgiving grin. This was not the first time
Laurie had "burned up" that stretch of roadway.

At the Sea Cliff station he slow