aircase the trunk had mastered him and
charged with him into the room. As he lay sprawled on the floor with a
foolish grin on his face, the discomfited lover turned on him with a
voice of fury.

"Officer, what the deuce is the matter with you?"

The intense savagery of his tone made the girl shrink away from him
and turn pale. He managed to cover his break so quickly with a forced
laugh and an effort to assist Gladwin to his feet that her fear was
only momentary.

In the last stage of his downward flight Gladwin glimpsed that he had
dropped in barely in time to spoil another touching scene. With a grin
of sheer delight, he asked:

"Where'll I put the trunk, sorr?"

"Put it there."

The self-styled Gladwin pointed to the right of the chest and set to
work to gather up his few hundred thousand dollars' worth of pelf. He
was about to place the flat packages in the trunk when he turned to
Helen and asked:

"Do you see any others that you'd like me to take, dear?"

"Oh, you know best," she replied. "Only I should think that you would
take some of the miniatures."

"The miniatures?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes," said the girl. "They are the loveliest I've ever seen and
they'll hardly take up any room at all. If we are going to be away
such a long time I think it would be safer to take them."

It was palpable to Travers Gladwin that the big chap had received a
psychic jolt, for his hand trembled a little as he laid down the
canvases on the top of the chest and addressed the girl:

"I didn't know you'd seen the miniatures."

"Oh, yes, when I was here this afternoon."

He took this between the eyes without flinching. His voice was
marvellously steady as he said:

"I didn't know you were here this afternoon."

"You didn't?" she asked in a puzzled tone. "How funny! You'd just gone
out when I called, but two of your friends were here and one of them
showed me the miniatures, and china, and plate and lots of things.
Why, I left a message for you about the opera--didn't they tell you?"

The girl stood with her back to Gladwin and the man she addressed
slowly turned his head and glanced over her head with a keen, flashing
look of inquiry. Gladwin lifted his chin a little and met the look
without change of expression.

"Didn't they tell you, Travers?" the girl repeated.

"Yes, yes; they told me," he said hastily, still maintaining his fixed
gaze upon Gladwin. There was barely an instant's pause before