y she heard Jack talk on, explaining in casual tone: "You know,
Matilda, Uncle Bob has always had the general oversight of the house
when it's been closed during summers; and he's always made it his
business to drop in occasionally to see that everything's all right.
I got him word we were here, and he dropped in this evening to call
on us--and along came this awful rain and we coaxed him to stay the
night. Uncle Bob and you are lucky, Matilda, you can both come and go
without arousing any suspicion."

Only the Judge!... Yet, for all her horror, a new phase of the general
predicament filtered into such consciousness as she now possessed.
Judge Harvey, irate purchaser of autograph letters, and Mr. Pyecroft,
_alias_ Thomas Preston, profuse producer of the same, were under the
same roof and were about to meet. What would happen when they came
face to face?--for she remembered now that a bad likeness of Thomas
Preston had several times appeared in the papers. She turned her head
toward the doorway and peered through her veil, waiting.

When Judge Harvey entered, Mr. Pyecroft started. Upon the instant
he had recognized Judge Harvey. But the next moment Mr. Pyecroft was
himself. Jack gave the necessary introductions, the one to Angelica
Simpson Jones at long distance, and gave a brief explanation of the
presence of the two guests. During this while Judge Harvey repeatedly
glanced at Mr. Pyecroft, a puzzled look on his countenance.

"Excuse me, Mr. Simpson," he remarked presently, "but your face seems
elusively familiar to me. I seem to know it, yet I cannot place it.
Haven't I met you somewhere?"

"Perhaps you were a lay delegate to the recent Episcopal Convention in
New York?" politely suggested Mr. Pyecroft.

"No. I did not even attend any of the sessions."

"Then, of course, it could not have been there that you saw me," said
Mr. Pyecroft.

"Perhaps it will come to me," said Judge Harvey.

"Perhaps," said Mr. Pyecroft.

Mrs. De Peyster, for all her personal apprehension, could but marvel
at this young man of the sea who had fastened himself upon her back.
Most amazing of all, he seemed to like the taste of his danger.

"Judge Harvey, Mr. De Peyster was remarking when you came in," Mr.
Pyecroft continued without permitting a lull, "that he wished his
presence in this house to remain unknown. Also I had just told him
and his young wife that my earlier years were given over to a life
for which I have been trying t