ably toward
the front door as she marched with equal determination at his elbow.
"Just a girly-girly heart-to-heart talk. Delightful fellow, isn't he?"

"Humph. You might remember he wasn't the only victim of the robbery.
If he lost a notebook, I lost a perfectly good dagger. Why can't I
know what's going on, too?" She cooed softly. "_Please_, Mr. Krech!"

"Well, if you _must_ know! I asked him, 'Vot iss a tanner?' and he
said, '_Vat_ do you mean?', and then--"

"_Oh!_" cried Miss Ocky, and flounced. Then her indignation gave way
to laughter. "Mr. Krech, you're a--a _sus domesticus_!"'

"French for diplomat, I take it," he retorted amiably, and left her on
the top step as he surged across the piazza and down to the waiting
car. Nevertheless, he sought his more erudite spouse at the first
opportunity.

"Jean, what's a _sus domesticus_?"

"Gracious!" She wrinkled her beautiful brow for a moment, but she had
taught school for a while before acquiring wedded affluence and the
answer presently came to her. "Why--a common pig, I suppose."

"Gosh. A _common_ pig? Not even a nice, clean, pink-and-white,
prize-winning pig?"

"No. What _are_ you talking about?"

"Nothing. Nothing _a_-tall! Say--what did you think of that Copley
woman?"

"Miss Copley? Very interesting. Very attractive. I liked her
immensely. Didn't you?"

He thought that over an instant. Then, like Miss Ocky, he surrendered
to amusement and gave one of his deep chuckles.

"Yes," he said. "I did. Sometime I'd like to pack a dictionary with
me and drop in on her for a chat!"

After Krech had dropped his unwelcome warning and departed, Simon Varr
turned to his desk and tried to forget some of his immediate problems
by attacking a small mass of correspondence that he had brought home
from the office after the innumerable interruptions of the morning. He
did not succeed any too well in concentrating his thoughts on the task.
They would persist in wandering to other matters, leaving him staring
blankly at a letter while his wits went the weary round of his
perplexities. With reflection came temper, and he rather welcomed the
sound of his study door being opened with no preliminary knock. That
foreboded more trouble of some sort, and he was in the humor for a
fight-- He swung his chair around and started at the sight of his wife
in the doorway.

"Well? Come in. What is it?"

She accepted the invitation. She came into the