u. But he is well provided, as I say, and he goes
everywhere. Some one has put him down at the Mutton Chop. You never go
there, do you?'

'I'm not asked,' laughed Logotheti. 'And as for becoming a member,
they say it's impossible.'

'It takes ten or fifteen years,' Griggs answered, 'and then you won't
be elected unless every one likes you. But you may be put down as
a visitor there just as at any other club. This fellow Feist, for
instance--we had trouble with him last night--or rather this morning,
for it was two o'clock. He has been dropping in often of late, towards
midnight. At first he was more or less amusing with his stories, for
he has a wonderful memory. You know the sort of funny man who rattles
on as if he were wound up for the evening, and afterwards you cannot
remember a word he has said. It's all very well for a while, but you
soon get sick of it. Besides, this particular specimen drinks like a
whale.'

'He looks as if he did.'

'Last night he had been talking a good deal, and most of the men who
had been there had gone off. You know there's only one room at the
Mutton Chop, with a long table, and if a man takes the floor there's
no escape. I had come in about one o'clock to get something to eat,
and Feist poured out a steady stream of stories as usual, though only
one or two listened to him. Suddenly his eyes looked queer, and he
stammered, and rolled off his chair, and lay in a heap, either dead
drunk or in a fit, I don't know which.'

'And I suppose you carried him downstairs,' said Logotheti, for Griggs
was known to be stronger than other men, though no longer young.

'I did,' Griggs answered. 'That's usually my share of the proceedings.
The last person I carried--let me see--I think it must have been that
poor girl who died at the Opera in New York. We had found Feist's
address in the visitors' book, and we sent him home in a hansom. I
wonder whether he got there!'

'I should think the member who put him down would be rather annoyed,'
observed Logotheti.

'Yes. It's the first time anything of that sort ever happened at the
Mutton Chop, and I fancy it will be the last. I don't think we shall
see Mr. Feist again.'

'I took a particular dislike to his face,' Logotheti said. 'I remember
thinking of him when I went home that night, and wondering who he was
and what he was about.'

'At first I took him for a detective,' said Griggs. 'But detectives
don't drink.'

'What made you think he migh