eed medical advice I'll send for Courtenay," he said, a hint
of authority in his bantering tone. "We were discussing tobacco, and a
woman; and the conjunction reminds me of an inspired German proverb I
happened on the other day. 'God made man first; then He made woman;
then He felt so sorry for man that He made--tobacco.' Supreme, isn't
it?"

Lenox chuckled with keen appreciation over the characteristically
Teuton bit of cynicism, and Richardson laughed aloud.

"Rather rough on woman, that. You might almost have originated it
yourself."

"Wish I had. I'd be proud of it. Stick to tobacco, Dick, and you'll
never be tempted to blow your brains out. You may take my word for it,
that jar of Arcadian mixture," he specified it with his pipe-stem, "is
worth all the women in creation put together."

The bitterness that of late years had so puzzled and distressed his
friend sounded again in his tone, and the laughter went out of
Richardson's eyes.

But Lenox, absorbed in his own reflections, noticed nothing.

"Let's hear what you've been doing with yourself at home, Dick," he
said suddenly. "You're not coherent on paper. I want a few facts.
You went abroad latterly, didn't you? Toboganning, and that sort of
thing, I suppose?"

"Yes; went with those cousins I told you of--to Zermatt."

"Delectable spot," Lenox remarked drily, his eyes on the bowl of his
pipe. "Hope you enjoyed yourself there?"

"Yes, rather so. Had a rattling good time." Then he leaned forward
again, elbows on knees. "Look here, Lenox, old chap; I'm no hand at
skirting round a subject, and I feel bound to tell you that I know now
. . . what happened there five years ago."

Lenox started so violently that the pipe dropped from his hand. A
minimum of sleep and a maximum of tobacco do not tend to steady a man's
nerve.

"How the devil d'you come to do that?" he asked, picking up his fallen
treasure, and readjusting its contents.

"Well, you see, I happened to be with my cousins when they found out
about it. Queer what a deal of trouble some women will take just to
satisfy a bit of curiosity."

"Damn their curiosity!" Lenox muttered between his teeth, adding
something hastily, "You can spare me the details. Nothing stands a
chance against a woman's passion for other people's affairs. Very
straight of you to speak out at once. Don't allude to it again,
though;--that's all."

"But, Lenox," Richardson persisted, not without misgiving,