ry detail, working
like a fiend himself and inspiring everybody else to work, proving
himself the ablest of generals and a perfect genius at effective
decoration. The Inn, inside and out, was a fairyland of light and
colour--even the sated eyes of the city people, accustomed to every
trick of effect in such affairs, were charmed with the picturesque
quality of the scene. But now Tom could see nothing of Perkins
anywhere. Tim, hurriedly questioned, shook his head, also puzzled.

Late in the evening there came a moment when Tom could free himself long
enough to run up to Perkins's room. He was uneasy about his guest--and
friend--for that the stranger seemed to have become. Perkins certainly
didn't look quite strong--could he have overdone and be ill, alone in
his room? After one hasty knock, to which he got no answer, Tom turned
the knob. Through the open balcony door he saw a leg and shoulder--and
smelled the familiar fragrance of the special brand.

"Hello, son!" was Perkins's greeting.

"You're not sick?"

"Never. Things going O. K.?"

"Oh, splendid! Such a crowd--such a jolly crowd! But--why don't you come
down?"

"To help make things go?"

"No, no--to enjoy it. You've done enough. You must know some of these
people, and if you don't--it's worth something just to look at 'em. I
didn't know ladies dressed like that--under those things they wear in
the autos. Say, Mr. Perkins, the Lieutenant-Governor's here--and his
wife!"

"So?"

"Mr. Haskins thinks they want to stay all night. The lady hasn't been
sleeping well through the heat. Mr. Haskins says she's taken a fancy to
the Inn. But I haven't a really good room for 'em."

"Take mine."

Tom gasped. "Oh, no! Not yours--after all you've done----"

"Going to-morrow, you know. It doesn't matter where I hang up to-night.
Matters a good deal where Mrs. Lieutenant-Governor hangs up."

"But where----?"

"Anywhere. May sit up till morning, anyhow. Feel like it. Your show sort
of goes to my head."

"My show? Yours! But why on earth don't you come down and----?"

"By and by, son. Say, send me some clean linen and I'll see that this
room's in shape for the lady--girls all busy yet. Room swept yesterday.
My truck's packed. I'll have things ready in ten minutes."

Tom went downstairs feeling more than ever that his guest was an enigma.
But he was too busy to stop just then to think about it.

The hours went by. The guests talked and laughed, ate and promenaded.