ness;
"oh, she don't rent here no more."

He reddened in an excess of relief.

"She don't?" mocked Balcome, glaring at the teagown.

"Nope," went on the landlady, mistaking his attention for a compliment,
and simpering a little, with a quick fluttering of her lids; "took all
her stuff.--Hm!" Now she let her eyes play side-wise, toward that
double door behind Balcome.

He took the hint. "I see."

"And, oh, I'm goin' to miss her! Her first name bein' Clare, and my
last name bein' St. Clair, I always feel, somehow, that she's a sorta
relation."

Balcome went nearer to the double door. "And you don't know where
she's living now?" He raised his voice a little. Then with Wallace
gaping in amazement, he put a hand into a pocket and brought out
several bills. He gave these a flirtatious wave before Tottie's eyes.
"You don't know?"

"Say, y' don't expect me to tell y', do y'?" she inquired, also raising
her voice. Those eyes sparkled with greed.

"Of course I expect you to tell me," Balcome mocked again, sliding the
bills into a coat pocket.

"Well, she didn't leave her new address." Out came a beringed hand.

"Didn't she?" Once more Balcome displayed the money.

"No, she said she'd send it." Then pointing toward the double door,
her fingers closed on the bribe.

Wallace gulped, looking about him at the carpet, like a creature in
misery that would lie down.

Balcome was taking a turn about the room. "So she's gone," he said.
"Too bad! Too bad! And no address." Presently, as he came close to
the door again, he gave one half of it a sudden, wrenching pull. It
opened, and disclosed Clare, crouched to listen, one knee on the floor.

"No! Don't!" It was Tottie, pretending to interfere.

"O-o-oh!" Clare scrambled to her feet. But contrary to what might
have been expected, she almost hurled herself into the room, shut the
door at her back, and stood against it.

Tottie addressed herself angrily to Balcome. "Say, look-a here! This
ain't the way out!"

"My mistake," apologized Balcome. Then with a look at Wallace that was
full of meaning, he retired to the hearth, planted his shoulders
against the mantel at Tottie's favorite vantage point, and surveyed
Clare. "We thought you were gone," he remarked good-naturedly. He
bobbed at her, with a flop of the big hat against his leg.

She made no reply, only waited, breathing hard, her eyes now on
Wallace, now on Tottie. To the former, her glance