s though it
were intended for me, but Mr. Poritol was quicker. He snatched the bill
and put it in his pocket.

"I didn't know what to do. But suddenly Mr. Poritol seemed to be
frightened. Perhaps he thought that I would have him arrested, though he
might have known that there were reasons why I couldn't. He gave me a
panicky look and rushed out of the corridor. Afterward I learned that he
told the guard I had sent him on an errand.

"Well"--she sighed--"of course, I followed, after a last glance at Walsh,
who was peering through the grating with a look of evil amusement. He
must have been well paid, that burglar. But then," she mused, "they could
afford it--yes, they could well afford it.

"When I got to the street, Poritol was just disappearing in my car! I can
only think that he had lost his head very completely, for he didn't need
to take the car. He could have mixed with the street-crowd and gone afoot
to the hotel where----"

"Alcatrante?"

"Yes, Mr. Alcatrante--where he was stopping, and have waited there. But
Mr. Alcatrante was playing golf at Wheaton, and Mr. Poritol seems to have
thought that he must go straight to him. He cannot escape from being
spectacular, you see.

"He ran out through the western suburbs, putting on more and more speed.
Meantime I set a detective on the track of the car. That is how I learned
what I am now telling you. As for the car, Mr. Poritol sent it back to me
this morning with a hired chauffeur. He wrote a note of abject apology,
saying that he had been beside himself and had not realized what he was
doing.

"After setting the detective at work, I went out to our place by train. I
dreaded confessing my failure to father, but he took it very well. We had
dinner together in his study. Maku was in the room while we were talking.
Now I can see why Maku disappeared after dinner and did not return."

"But how did Poritol lose the bill?" asked Orme.

The girl laughed. "It was really ridiculous. He over-speeded and was
caught by one of those roadside motor-car traps, ten or twelve miles out
in the country. They timed him, and stopped him by a bar across the road.
From what the detective says, I judge he was frightened almost to
speechlessness. He may have thought that he was being arrested for
stealing the car. When they dragged him before the country justice, who
was sitting under a tree near by, he was white and trembling.

"They fined him ten dollars. He had in his pocket only