r fellow. My train for Washington leaves in another hour, and I have
packing to do. I want to leave poor Seacliff in your charge while I am
gone."

"Oh, I say! What!"

"You can look after him. I am credibly informed that even now there
are places in New York where a determined young man may obtain
the--er--stuff, and I should be infinitely obliged--and my poor sister
would be infinitely grateful--if you would keep an eye on him." He
hailed a taxi-cab. "I am sending Seacliff round to the Cosmopolis
to-night. I am sure you, will do everything you can. Good-bye, my boy,
good-bye."

Archie continued his walk. This, he felt, was beginning to be a bit
thick. He smiled a bitter, mirthless smile as he recalled the fact that
less than half an hour had elapsed since he had expressed a regret that
he did not belong to the ranks of those who do things. Fate since then
had certainly supplied him with jobs with a lavish hand. By bed-time he
would be an active accomplice to a theft, valet and companion to a snake
he had never met, and--as far as could gather the scope of his duties--a
combination of nursemaid and private detective to dear old Squiffy.

It was past four o'clock when he returned to the Cosmopolis. Roscoe
Sherriff was pacing the lobby of the hotel nervously, carrying a small
hand-bag.

"Here you are at last! Good heavens, man, I've been waiting two hours."

"Sorry, old bean. I was musing a bit and lost track of the time."

The Press-agent looked cautiously round. There was nobody within
earshot.

"Here he is!" he said.

"Who?"

"Peter."

"Where?" said Archie, staring blankly.

"In this bag. Did you expect to find him strolling arm-in-arm with me
round the lobby? Here you are! Take him!"

He was gone. And Archie, holding the bag, made his way to the lift. The
bag squirmed gently in his grip.

The only other occupant of the lift was a striking-looking woman of
foreign appearance, dressed in a way that made Archie feel that she
must be somebody or she couldn't look like that. Her face, too, seemed
vaguely familiar. She entered the lift at the second floor where the
tea-room is, and she had the contented expression of one who had tea'd
to her satisfaction. She got off at the same floor as Archie, and walked
swiftly, in a lithe, pantherist way, round the bend in the corridor.
Archie followed more slowly. When he reached the door of his room, the
passage was empty. He inserted the key in his door, turned it,