mething over in his mind.
"But I don't want to say just where it is," he proceeded cautiously,
"because I don't want certain parties to know that I am after this
property. And if I don't tell you where it is," and he turned toward
her with a pleasant smile and the caressing look in his soft brown
eyes that had so much power to stir feminine hearts, "you can
truthfully say, if you are asked, that you don't know where I am or
how I can be reached."

"How considerate of me he always is," thought Henrietta as she thanked
him.

It was not until she had gone through the accumulation of mail with
him and had explained to him all that she had done during his absence
that he mentioned Hugh Gordon. Then he merely asked, with some
hesitation at the name, as though he could with difficulty bring
himself to speak it, if no letter had come from him.

"Yes," she replied, unlocking a drawer and taking out a bulky
envelope, "this came yesterday, but I guessed that it was from him and
so did not open it."

Brand's dark, handsome face turned a trifle paler and his hand
trembled as he thrust the letter quickly into his breast pocket.

When the newspapermen came to ask if there were yet any news of him
Brand saw them in his own room. He said nothing to Henrietta about the
charges made against him by the investigating committee, but in the
evening papers and again in those of the next morning she read his
defense.

He knew Mr. Flaherty, knew him quite well, he told the reporters, and
had had business dealings with him. Mr. Flaherty had advised him
about several investments he had thought of making and had helped him
in getting some out-of-the-way information concerning them. He had
been impressed by the shrewdness of Mr. Flaherty's judgment in these
matters, had relied on him a good deal and, altogether, had felt under
so much obligation to him that when, after a while, he put a
considerable sum of money into Mr. Flaherty's hands for investment, he
had insisted upon the politician's taking a more liberal commission
than was customary. His idea had been to show his appreciation and
relieve himself from any entanglement or obligation. If Mr. Flaherty
had chosen to consider it a bribe, he, Felix Brand, could hardly be
held responsible for another's idiosyncrasies.

Yes, he had talked with Mr. Flaherty about the municipal art
commission and quite possibly had said, in some such conversation,
that he would like to be a member of that bo