t it was an egg. Wanted to get hold of the
rummy little object, don't you know, and surprise you."

"Who's we?"

"Lucille and I."

"But how did you hear of it at all?"

"Parker, the valet-chappie, you know, wrote me a letter about it."

"Parker! Didn't he tell you that he had told me the figure was to be
sold?"

"Absolutely not!" A sudden suspicion came to Archie. He was normally a
guileless young man, but even to him the extreme fishiness of the part
played by Herbert Parker had become apparent. "I say, you know, it looks
to me as if friend Parker had been having us all on a bit, what? I
mean to say it was jolly old Herb, who tipped your son off--Bill, you
know--to go and bid for the thing."

"Bill! Was Bill there?"

"Absolutely in person! We were bidding against each other like the
dickens till we managed to get together and get acquainted. And then
this bird--this gentleman--sailed in and started to slip it across us."

Professor Binstead chuckled--the care-free chuckle of a man who sees
all those around him smitten in the pocket, while he himself remains
untouched.

"A very ingenious rogue, this Parker of yours, Brewster. His method
seems to have been simple but masterly. I have no doubt that either he
or a confederate obtained the figure and placed it with the auctioneer,
and then he ensured a good price for it by getting us all to bid against
each other. Very ingenious!"

Mr. Brewster struggled with his feelings. Then he seemed to overcome
them and to force himself to look on the bright side.

"Well, anyway," he said. "I've got the pair of figures, and that's what
I wanted. Is that it in that parcel?"

"This is it. I wouldn't trust an express company to deliver it. Suppose
we go up to your room and see how the two look side by side."

They crossed the lobby to the lift.-The cloud was still on Mr.
Brewster's brow as they stepped out and made their way to his suite.
Like most men who have risen from poverty to wealth by their
own exertions, Mr. Brewster objected to parting with his money
unnecessarily, and it was plain that that twenty-three hundred dollars
still rankled.

Mr. Brewster unlocked the door and crossed the room. Then, suddenly, he
halted, stared, and stared again. He sprang to the bell and pressed it,
then stood gurgling wordlessly.

"Anything wrong, old bean?" queried Archie, solicitously.

"Wrong! Wrong! It's gone!"

"Gone?"

"The figure!"

The floor-waiter had manifested h