tagion in their
fooling."

"How would you define them? Those who don't fit in with your ideas of
the normal?" Clarke sneered.

"I know a clean, straight man when I meet him, and that's enough for
me," Harding retorted.

"I imagine that cleverer people are now and then deceived," said
Clarke, moving away as he spoke.

"That's a man I want to keep clear of," Harding declared. "There's
something wrong about him; he's not wholesome!"

CHAPTER V

CORNERING THE BOBCAT

The next evening Harding was taking out a cigar in the vestibule when a
man brushed past him wearing big mittens and a loose black cloak such
as old-fashioned French-Canadians sometimes use.

"Why, Blake!" he cried. "What have you got on? Have you been
serenading somebody?"

"I can't stop," Blake answered with a grin. "Open that door for
me--quick!"

A porter held back the door, but as Blake slipped through, Harding
seized his cloak.

"Hold on! I want a talk with you!"

Blake made an effort to break loose, and as he did so a bobcat dropped
from beneath his arm and fell, spitting and snarling, to the floor.
Its fur was torn and matted, tufts were hanging loose, and the creature
had a singularly disreputable and ferocious appearance. Blake made an
attempt to recapture it, but, evading him easily, it ran along the
floor with a curious hopping gait and disappeared among the pillars.
Then he turned to his friend with a rueful laugh.

"You see what you've done! It's gone into the rotunda, where everybody
is."

Harding looked at him critically.

"You seem sober. What ever possessed you to get yourself up like an
Italian opera villain and go round the town with a wild beast under
your arm?"

"I'll tell you later," Blake laughed. "What we have to do now is to
catch the thing."

"It's time," drawled Harding. "The circus is beginning."

Men's laughter and women's shrieks rose from the rotunda. Somebody
shouted orders in French, there was a patter of running feet, and then
a crash as of chairs being overturned. Blake sprang in, and Harding
followed, divided between amusement and impatience. They saw an
animated scene. Two porters were chasing the bobcat, which now and
then turned upon them savagely, while several waiters, keeping at a
judicious distance, tried to frighten it into a corner by flourishing
their napkins. Women fled out of the creature's way, men hastily moved
chairs and tables to give the pursuers room, and som