he silent streets. The snow had ceased to
fall and the stars were shining brightly. Lenora shivered as she leaned
back in her corner.

"You are cold, I am afraid," Quest remarked. "Never mind, there will be a
good fire in my study. I shall only keep you for a few moments. I dare not
be away long just now, as I have a very important case on."

"There is nothing more that I can tell you," Lenora ventured, a little
fearfully. "Can't you ask me what you want to, now, as we go along?"

"We have already arrived," Quest told her. "Do you mind following me?"

She crossed the pavement and passed through the front door, which Quest
was holding open for her. They stepped into the little elevator, and a
moment or two later Lenora was installed in an easy-chair in Quest's
sitting-room, in front of a roaring fire.

"Lean back and make yourself comfortable," Quest invited, as he took a
chair opposite to her. "I must just look through these papers."

The girl did as she was told. She opened her coat. The room was
delightfully warm, almost overheated. A sense of rest crept over her. For
the first moment since the awful shock, her nerves seemed quieter.
Gradually she began to feel almost as though she were passing into sleep.
She started up, but sank back again almost immediately. She was conscious
that Quest had laid down the letters which he had been pretending to read.
His eyes were fixed upon her. There was a queer new look in them, a
strange new feeling creeping through her veins. Was she going to sleep?...

Quest's voice broke an unnatural silence.

"You are anxious to telephone some one," he said.

"You looked at both of the booths as we came through the hotel. Then you
remembered, I think, that he would not be there yet. Telephone now. The
telephone is at your right hand. You know the number."

She obeyed almost at once. She took the receiver from the instrument by
her side.

"Number 700, New York City."

"You will ask," Quest continued, "whether he is all right, whether the
jewels are safe."

There was a brief silence, then the girl's voice.

"Are you there, James?... Yes, I am Lenora. Are you safe? Have you the
jewels?... Where?... You are sure that you are safe.... No, nothing fresh
has happened."

"You are at the hotel," Quest said softly. "You are going to him."

"I cannot sleep," she continued. "I am coming to you."

She set down the receiver. Quest leaned a little more closely over her.

"You know wher