in this.'

"Now, while Estes is a second cousin of mine, 'Betty' Catherwood is my
niece, and so I considered that I had a double right to stick in my
oar. But I wasn't prepared for the depth of trouble that I encountered
in the glance George Estes turned on me. 'So bad as that!' I finished,
lamely.

"'It won't take long in the telling,' began the boy, desperately. 'You
remember that after I left Princeton I went to Germany for a two years'
course in international law under Langlotz; it was a pet idea of the
pater's.'

"I nodded.

"'Well, we all make fools of ourselves at one time or another, and here
is where I donned the cap and bells. You have heard'--here he lowered
his voice--'of the "Dawn."'

"'The revolutionary society?'

"'Yes; it's the active branch of the "Sunrise League"--the practical
work, you know. I joined it.'

"I had nothing to say. George laughed a little dismally and went on:

"'Absurd, wasn't it? I, a citizen of the best and freest country on
earth to be making common cause with a lot of crack-brained theorists
who would replace constitutional government by the "Lion's Mouth" and
the "Council of Ten"--a world ruled by a secret terror. But it seemed
all right at the time. What was my life or any one man's life to the
progress of civilization? It was only when I came to look at the means
apart from the end that I realized the horrible fallacy of it all.'

"'You withdrew, of course.'

"'You don't quite understand. One doesn't withdraw from the "Dawn." He
may cease to be identified actively with the propaganda, but he is
still subject to be called upon for a term of "service"--that's the
ghastly euphemism they use. You remember this and the night I received
it?'

"He took a pasteboard box from his pocket and handed it to me. It
contained a small, red button, fashioned out of some semiprecious stone
resembling Mexican opal.

"'It was the first summons,' continued Estes, 'and within three days I
should have been on my way to Berlin--to receive my instructions.'

"'You refused, then?'

"'There was Betty,' said the boy, simply.

"'You must understand,' he went on, 'that this "service" can only be
demanded once of a member. He may refuse compliance, if he chooses, but
in that case there is a forfeit to be paid, and it becomes due after
the third warning.'

"'Well?'

"'Must be paid, you understand. If not by the recalcitrant himself,
then by the agent of the "Forty" through whom the summ