er now, I should be only a burden upon her."

"You have no money, then?" Tavernake remarked.

The professor shook his head sadly.

"Speculations, my young friend," he replied, "speculations undertaken
solely with the object of making a fortune for my children. I have had
money and lost it."

"Can't you earn any?" Tavernake asked. "Beatrice doesn't seem
extravagant."

The professor regarded this outspoken young man with an air of hurt
dignity.

"If you will forgive me," he said. "I think that we will choose another
subject of conversation."

"At any rate," Tavernake declared, "you must be fond of your daughter or
you would not come here night after night just to look at her."

The professor shook out a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed his
eyes.

"Beatrice was always my favorite," he announced solemnly, "but
Elizabeth--well, you can't get away from Elizabeth," he added, leaning
across the table. "To tell you the truth, Mr. Tavernake, Elizabeth
terrifies me sometimes, she is so bold. I am afraid where her scheming
may land us. I would be happier with Beatrice if only she had the means
to satisfy my trifling wants."

He turned to the waiter and ordered a pint of champagne.

"Veuve Clicquot '99," he instructed the man. "At my age," he remarked,
with a sigh, "one has to be careful about these little matters. The
wrong brand of champagne means a sleepless night."

Tavernake looked at him in a puzzled way. The professor was a riddle
to him. He represented no type which had come within the orbit of his
experience. With the arrival of the champagne, the professor became
almost eloquent. He leaned forward, gazing stealthily down at the round
table.

"If I could tell you of that girl's mother, Mr. Tavernake," he said, "if
I could tell you what her history, our history, has been, it would seem
to you so strange that you would probably regard me as a romancer. No,
we have to carry our secrets with us."

"By-the-bye," Tavernake asked, "what are you a professor of?"

"Of the hidden sciences, sir," was the immediate reply. "Phrenology was
my earliest love. Since then I have studied in the East; I have spent
many years in a monastery in China. I have gratified in every way my
natural love of the occult. I represent today those people of advanced
thought who have traveled, even in spirit, for ever such a little
distance across the line which divides the Seen from the Unseen, the
Known from the Infinite."

He t