ound-shouldered and slightly
bow-legged when he stood up; he was heavily and clumsily built, but he
was evidently strong.

He went out into the dark entry and opened the door, and a moment
later he came back with Mr. Feist, the man with the unhealthy
complexion whom Margaret had seen at the Turkish Embassy. Isidore
Bamberger sat down in the easy-chair again without ceremony, leaving
his guest to bring up a straight-backed chair for himself.

Mr. Feist was evidently in a very nervous condition. His hand shook
perceptibly as he mopped his forehead after sitting down, and he moved
his chair uneasily twice because the incandescent light irritated his
eyes. He did not wait for Bamberger to question him, however.

'It's all right,' he said, 'but he doesn't care to take steps till
after this season is over. He says the same thing will happen again to
a dead certainty, and that the more evidence he has the surer he'll be
of the decree. I think he's afraid Van Torp has some explanation up
his sleeve that will swing things the other way.'

'Didn't he catch her here?' asked the elder man, evidently annoyed.
'Didn't he find the money on this table in an envelope addressed
to her? Didn't he have two witnesses with him? Or is all that an
invention?'

'It happened just so. But he's afraid there's some explanation--'

'Feist,' said Isidore Bamberger slowly, 'find out what explanation the
man's afraid of, pretty quick, or I'll get somebody who will. It's my
belief that he's just a common coward, who takes money from his wife
and doesn't care how she gets it. I suppose she refused to pay one
day, so he strengthened his position by catching her; but he doesn't
want to divorce the goose that lays the golden egg as long as he's
short of cash. That's about the measure of it, you may depend.'

'She may be a goose,' answered Feist, 'but she's a wild one, and
she'll lead us a chase too. She's up to all sorts of games, I've
ascertained. She goes out of the house at all hours and comes home
when she's ready, and it isn't to meet your friend either, for he's
not been in London again since he landed.'

'Then who else is it?' asked Bamberger.

Feist smiled in a sickly way.

'Don't know,' he said. 'Can't find out.'

'I don't like people who don't know and can't find out,' answered the
other. 'I'm in a hurry, I tell you. I'm employing you, and paying you
a good salary, and taking a great deal of trouble to have you pushed
with letters of