ny fists. The little
fingers opened, and then they closed tightly about John Adare's thumb.
The older man looked again at Philip, and from him his eyes sought
Josephine. His voice trembled with ecstasy.

"Where is Josephine?"

"Gone to her mother," replied Philip.

"Bring her--quick!" commanded Adare. "Tell her to bring her mother and
wake the kid or I'll yell. I've got to hear the little beggar talk." As
Philip turned toward the door he flung after him in a sibilant whisper:
"Wait! Maybe you know how to do it--"

"We'd better have Josephine," advised Philip quickly, and before Adare
could argue his suggestion he hurried into the hall.

Where he would find her he had no idea, and as he went down the hall he
listened at each of the several doors he passed. The door into the big
living-room was partly ajar, and he looked in. The room was empty. For
a few moments he stood silent. From the size and shape of the building
whose outside walls he had followed in his hunt for Jean he knew there
must be many other rooms, and probably other shorter corridors leading
to some of them.

Just now his greatest desire was to come face to face with
Croisset--and alone. He had already determined upon a course of action
if such a meeting occurred. Next to that he wanted to see Josephine's
mother. It had struck him as singular that she had not accompanied her
husband to Josephine's room, and his curiosity was still further
aroused by the girl's apparent indifference to this fact. Jean Croisset
and the mistress of Adare House had hung behind when the older man came
into the room where they were standing. For an instant Jean had
revealed himself, and he was sure that Adare's wife was not far behind
him, concealed in the deeper gloom.

Suddenly the sound of a falling object came to his ears, as if a book
had dropped from a table, or a chair had overturned. It was from the
end of the hall--almost opposite his room. At his own door he stopped
again and listened. This time he could hear voices, a low and
unintelligible murmur. It was quite easy for him to locate the sound.
He moved across to the other door, and hesitated. He had already
disobeyed Josephine's injunction to remain with her father. Should he
take a further advantage by obeying John Adare's command to bring his
wife and daughter? A strange and subdued excitement was stirring him.
Since the appearance of the threatening face at his window--the
knowledge that in another moment