"Didn't I tell you!" he cried. "Didn't I tell you!"

But she failed to respond to his enthusiasm. She turned on him a grave
face; and her eyes shone.

"What I'm wondering," she said, "is who plays her spook? 'Cause if she
has a trap, she uses confederates, and it can't be none of the
servants, unless I'm worse fooled on that little Ellen than ever I was
on Mrs. Markham. That's the next thing to consider."

"Does look curious," replied Dr. Blake, "but of course you can be
trusted to discover that! But about Annette?"

"Something's a little wrong there," responded Rosalie. "Quiet, and
dopey, and strange. That,"--her voice fell to soft contemplation,--"is
another thing to find out."

"We must get her out of there!" he exploded; "away from that vampire!"

"Well, that's what I'm takin' your money for, ain't it?" responded
Rosalie.

After they parted Rosalie Le Grange stood on a corner, among the
push-cart peddlers and the bargaining wives, and watched Dr. Blake's
taxicab disappear down Stanton Street.

"Ain't it funny?" she said half aloud, "that a smart young man like him
never thought to ask whose room it was I found the trap in?"

X

THE STREAMS CONVERGE

Bulger, trailing whiffs of out-door air, had dropped into the Norcross
offices to join the late afternoon drink. He sat now sipping his
highball, tilted back with an affectation of ease. Norcross, in his
regular place at the glass-covered desk, laid his glass down; and his
gaze wandered again to the spire of Old Trinity and then, following
down, to the churchyard at its foot. Had he faced about suddenly at
that moment, he would have surprised Bulger in a strained attitude of
attention. But he did not turn; he spoke with averted glance.

"You never asked me, Bulger, how I was making it with that medium
woman."

Bulger took a deep swallow of whiskey and water that he might control
his voice. When, finally, he spoke, he showed a fine assumption of
indifference.

"Well, no. Can't say I'm heavily interested. When I found for you the
best medium that money could buy, I decided that my job was done. Of
course," he added, "I was complimented to have you tell me--what I've
forgotten. If you want to consult a medium, it's really none of my
business. How the Lusitania does loom up at her dock out there!"

Norcross let his eyes wander in search of the Lusitania, but his mind
refused to stray from the vital subject.

"You've no business to be indiffer