"What the devil are you grinning at?" demanded John Minute.

"I also was thinking that there was no nonsense about her," he said.

John Minute swung round.

"Jasper," he said, "May is the kind of girl I would like you to marry;
in fact, she _is_ the girl I would like you to marry."

"I think Frank would have something to say about that," said the other,
stirring his coffee.

"Frank!" snorted John Minute. "What the devil do I care about Frank?
Frank has to do as he's told. He's a lucky young man and a bit of a
rascal, too, I'm thinking. Frank would marry anybody with a pretty face.
Why, if I hadn't interfered--"

Jasper looked up.

"Yes?"

"Never mind," growled John Minute.

As was his practice, he sat a long time over dinner, half awake and half
asleep. Jasper had annexed one of the newspapers, and was reading it.
This was the routine which marked every evening of his life save on
those occasions when he made a visit to London. He was in the midst of
an article by a famous scientist on radium emanation, when John Minute
continued a conversation which he had broken off an hour ago.

"I'm worried about May sometimes."

Jasper put down his paper.

"Worried! Why?"

"I am worried. Isn't that enough?" growled the other. "I wish you
wouldn't ask me a lot of questions, Jasper. You irritate me beyond
endurance."

"Well, I'll take it that you're worried," said his confidential
secretary patiently, "and that you've good reason."

"I feel responsible for her, and I hate responsibilities of all kinds.
The responsibilities of children--"

He winced and changed the subject, nor did he return to it for several
days.

Instead he opened up a new line.

"Sergeant Smith was here when I was out, I understand," he said.

"He came this afternoon--yes."

"Did you see him?"

Jasper nodded.

"What did he want?"

"He wanted to see you, as far as I could make out. You were saying the
other day that he drinks."

"Drinks!" said the other scornfully. "He doesn't drink; he eats it. What
do you think about Sergeant Smith?" he demanded.

"I think he is a very curious person," said the other frankly, "and I
can't understand why you go to such trouble to shield him or why you
send him money every week."

"One of these days you'll understand," said the other, and his prophecy
was to be fulfilled. "For the present, it is enough to say that if
there are two ways out of a difficulty, one of which is unpleasant and
one of