ted.

"Who has been murdered?" he asked.

"The man whom I told you about yesterday--the numismatist, Hume."

"Ah!" Ashton-Kirk drew in a long breath and his eyes began to glow.
There was an instant's pause, then he said: "The hour is rather
unconventional; but if you will receive me, I'll have you tell me
about this matter privately and at once."

"By all means," she answered, eagerly. "I was about to beg of you to
come."

"In a half hour," said he, briefly. "Good-by."

He hung up the receiver and touched one of the buttons. When Stumph
came, he said:

"Turn the cold water into my bath. Then order the car in haste."

"Yes, sir."

"Afterwards you can lay out a rough suit, heavy shoes and a soft hat."

"Instantly, sir."

Within twenty minutes Ashton-Kirk ran down the steps and sprang into
the powerful looking car that awaited him; and well within the half
hour he rang the bell at the marble palace built by the steel magnate
during the last years of his life. A heavy-eyed man servant admitted
him with astonished resentment. Miss Vale, looking very tall and very
pale, met him in the hall. But for all her pallor she seemed quite
collected, even smiling.

"Oh, I'm so sorry to have brought you out so early and on such a
dismal morning," she said, lightly, leading him into a room at one
side. "I'm sure it is very damp."

She sat down and motioned him to a chair; he studied her with some
surprise; the transition from wild terror to her present calm was
most notable.

"There has been a recovery of poise, evidently," Ashton-Kirk told
himself. "She is still frightened, but for some reason is anxious to
hide it."

"This morning," said Miss Vale, with a laugh that rang perfectly, "I
found that I was only a woman after all. This--this dreadful thing so
startled me that for a time I did not know what to do. My first
impulse was to call you, and I acted upon it. But," with a pretty
gesture of apology, "when I had recovered myself somewhat, I saw that
I had disturbed you unnecessarily."

"You don't mean that, after all, Hume is not--"

She held up her hand for him to stop. A strong shudder seemed to run
through her; she bent her head so that the light would not fall too
strongly upon her face. In a moment, however, she recovered.

"Yes, yes," she said, her voice perfectly under control. "He is
dead--shockingly murdered. What I mean is, that while the event is
very dreadful--still, it does not really concern me mo