ttie's, save for the changed
number on the tympanum of colored glass above its front door, and the
white card lettered in black in a front window--a card that marked the
residence as the headquarters of the Gramercy Club for Girls.

Clare rang.

The man came very near to missing her as she waited for the answering
of the bell. And it seemed as if she could not fail to see him, for
she looked about her from the top of the steps. When she was admitted,
he sat down on a coping to consider his next move.

Twice he got up and went forward as it to mount the steps of the Club;
but both times he changed his mind. Then, near at hand, occupying a
neighboring basement, he spied a small shop. In the low window of the
shop, among hats and articles of handiwork, there swung a bird-cage.
He hurried across the street, entered the store, still without losing
sight of the steps of the Club, and called forward the brown-cheeked,
foreign-looking girl busily engaged with some embroidery in the rear of
the place. A question, an eager reply, a taking down of the canary,
and he went out, carrying the cage.

Very erect he was as he strode back to the Club. Here was a person
about to go through with an unpleasant program, but virtuously
determined on his course. His jaw was set grimly. He climbed to the
storm-door, and rang twice, keeping his finger on the bell longer than
was necessary. Then, very deliberately, he adjusted his _pince-nez_.

A maid answered his ring--a maid well past middle-age, with gray hair,
and an air of authority. She looked her displeasure at his prolonged
summoning.

"Miss Crosby is here," he began; "I mean the young woman who just came
in." He was very curt, very military; and ignored the reproof in her
manner. "Please say that Mr. Hull has come."

The maid promptly admitted him.

But to make sure that he would not fail in his purpose to see
Clare--that she would not escape from the Club as quietly as she had
left Tottie's, he now lifted the bird-cage into view. "Tell Miss
Crosby that Mr. Hull has brought the canary," he added.

"Very well,"--the servant went up the stairs at a leisurely pace that
was irritating.

She did not return. Instead, Clare herself appeared at the top of the
staircase, and descended slowly, looking calmly at him as she came.
Her hat was off, and she had tidied her hair. Something in her manner
caused him to move his right arm, as if he would have liked to screen
the c