e you in earnest, sir?"

"I am in earnest," Duge answered.

"Then I have done nothing with her," Vine declared. "I do not know where
she is. I do not know why you should ask me?"

"You lie!" Phineas Duge said quietly. "But let that go. It is your
trade, of course. I came here to give you the opportunity of answering
questions. I scarcely expected that such direct methods would appeal
to you."

"Your methods, at any rate," Vine said, moving toward the bell, "are not
such as I am disposed to permit in my own apartment."

Phineas Duge stretched out his hand.

"One moment, Mr. Vine," he said.

Vine stopped.

"Well?" he asked.

"I refer again," Phineas Duge said, "to the question of my niece. As
regards those other matters, if you do not wish to discuss them with me,
let them go. Even in this country you will find that I am not powerless.
But as regards my niece, I insist upon some explanation from you."

"Some explanation of what?" Vine asked.

"When she left New York a few months ago," Phineas Duge continued, "you
and she were strangers. Granted that she came upon a silly errand, still
it was not wholly her own fault, and she was only a simple child who
ought never to have been permitted to have left America,"

"Up to that point, Mr. Duge," Vine said drily, "I am entirely in accord
with you."

"She made your acquaintance somehow," Phineas Duge continued, "and you
were seen out with her at different restaurants; once, I believe, at a
place of amusement. She left her boarding-house and took rooms here in
this building. Her room, I find, was across the corridor, only a few
feet away from yours. What is there between you and my niece,
Norris Vine?"

Vine leaned against the table, and a faint smile flickered over his
face.

"Really, Mr. Duge," he said, "you must forgive my amusement. The idea
that anything so trivial as the well-being of a niece should interest
you in the slightest, seems to me almost paradoxical."

Phineas Duge
was silent for several moments, his keen eyes fixed upon Vine's face.

"Pray enjoy your jests as much as you will, Mr. Vine," he said, "but
answer my questions."

"Your niece," Norris Vine said, "came over here to rob me, at whose
instigation I can only surmise. My first introduction to her was in my
room, where she came as a thief. What consideration have you ever shown,
Phineas Duge, even to the innocent who have crossed your paths? Why
should you expect that I should show con