ner. I
thought it best to ..."

Ginger came forward quickly. "Good-by!" she said, hurriedly.

He put out a hand to her. She moved a little nearer and, suddenly,
quite suddenly, she kissed him. He drew back a little, and presently
she was gone...

He looked up to find Helen standing before him. She was a little pale
and her lips more scarlet than ever, and her thick, black eyebrows
sharply defined. He had never seen her look so disagreeably handsome.

"That woman who just went out," she began, coolly, "she's the same one
who--"

"Yes," he interrupted, crisply.

"Who is she?"

He looked at her steadily; she did not flinch. "A friend of mine."

Her lip curled disdainfully. "Oh!" she said, and she sat down.

* * * * *

Toward evening they came for him, or rather Watson did, with a
taxicab.

"Everything has gone nicely," Watson explained, pridefully. "You
certainly were lucky in having Hilmer for a friend ... no humiliation,
no publicity."

Fred, standing before the bureau mirror, brushed his hair. "Where are
you taking me now?" he inquired.

"To the detention hospital... You'll stay there a week or so for
observation... It's a mere form."

"And from there?"

"To the state hospital at Fairview."

Fred Starratt flung down the brush. "Why don't you call it by its
right name? ... I'm told it's an insane asylum."

Watson stared and then came forward with a little threatening gesture.
"You better not start any rough-house, Starratt--at the eleventh
hour!" he admonished, with a significant warmth.

Fred turned slowly, breaking into a laugh. "Rough-house?" he echoed.
"Don't be afraid. ... I've got to the curious stage now. I want to see
the whole picture." He reached for his hat. "I'm ready ... let's go."

A half hour later Fred Starratt was booked at the detention hospital.
They took away his clothes and gave him a towel and a nightgown and
led him to a bathroom... Presently he was shown to his cell-like room.
Overhead the fading day filtered in ghostly fashion through a
skylight; an iron bed stood against the wall. There was not another
stick of furniture in sight.

He crawled into his bed and the attendant left him, switching on an
electric light from the outside. A nurse with supper followed
shortly--a bowl of thin soup and two slices of dry bread. Fred
Starratt lifted the bowl to his lips and drank a few mouthfuls. The
stuff was without flavor, but it quenched his