n."

For orders the men in the doorway looked to the young man with the
stern face.

He scowled at the figure in the kimono.

"You will please go to your room, sir," he said. He stood up, and
bowed to Miss Forbes. "I beg your pardon," he asked, "you must want to
get out of this. Will you please go into the library?"

He turned to the robust youths in the door, and pointed at the second
burglar.

"Move him out of the way," he ordered.

The man in the kimono smirked and bowed.

"Allow me," he said; "allow me to show you to the library. This is no
place for ladies."

The young man with the stern face frowned impatiently.

"You will please return to your room, sir," he repeated.

With an attempt at dignity the figure in the kimono gathered the silk
robe closer about him.

"Certainly," he said. "If you think you can get on without me--I will
retire," and lifting his bare feet mincingly, he tiptoed away. Miss
Forbes looked after him with an expression of relief, of repulsion, of
great pity.

The owner of the car glanced at the young man with the stern face, and
raised his eyebrows interrogatively.

The young man had taken the revolver from the limp fingers of the
burglar and was holding it in his hand. Winthrop gave what was half a
laugh and half a sigh of compassion.

"So, that's Carey?" he said.

There was a sudden silence. The young man with the stern face made no
answer. His head was bent over the revolver. He broke it open, and
spilled the cartridges into his palm. Still he made no answer. When
he raised his head, his eyes were no longer stern, but wistful, and
filled with an inexpressible loneliness.

"No, _I_ am Carey," he said.

The one who had blundered stood helpless, tongue-tied, with no presence
of mind beyond knowing that to explain would offend further.

The other seemed to feel for him more than for himself. In a voice low
and peculiarly appealing, he continued hurriedly.

"He is my doctor," he said. "He is a young man, and he has not had
many advantages--his manner is not--I find we do not get on together.
I have asked them to send me some one else." He stopped suddenly, and
stood unhappily silent. The knowledge that the strangers were
acquainted with his story seemed to rob him of his earlier confidence.
He made an uncertain movement as though to relieve them of his presence.

Miss Forbes stepped toward him eagerly.

"You told me I might wait in the library," she sai