ater.

He paused before a tall pier-glass and surveyed himself through
bloodshot eyes. The telephone upon the opposite wall emitted a
peremptory ring. Young Carmody turned with a frown of annoyance. He
ignored the summons and carefully scrutinized his damaged hand.

His brain was rapidly clearing and, from out the tangled maze of
dancing girls, popping corks, and hilarious, dress-suited men, loomed
large the picture of a policeman. Just how it all happened he could not
recollect. He must see the boys and get the straight of it.

His mirrored image grinned at the recollection of the officer, the
quick, hard-struck blow, and the hysterical screams and laughter of the
girls as they were seized in the strong arms of their companions,
rushed across the sidewalk, and swung bodily into the waiting taxis.

_B-r-r-r-r-r. B-r-r-r-r-r-r. B-r-r-r-r-r!_ Again the telephone bell cut
short his musing. There was a compelling insistency in the sound and,
with a muttered imprecation, he jerked the receiver from the hook.

"Well?" he growled. "Yes, this is William Carmody. Oh, hello, governor!
I will be right down. I overslept this morning. Stay where I am! Why?
All right, I'll wait."

"Now what?" he murmured. "The old gentleman seems peeved."

After a cold bath and a vigorous rub he began leisurely to dress. His
eyes cleared and he noted with satisfaction that aside from a slight
pouchiness, and the faint mottling of red that blotched his cheeks, all
traces of the previous night's orgy had disappeared. True his hand
pained him, but he had neatly mended the split with plaster and the
swelling had, in a great measure, yielded to the cold water.

"Getting fat," he grunted, as he noticed the increasing heaviness at
his girth. "Fat and soft," he added, as a huge muscle yielded under the
grip of his strong fingers.

In college this man had pulled the stroke oar of his crew, and on the
gridiron had become a half-back of national renown. By the end of his
second year no amateur could be found who would willingly face him with
the gloves, and upon several occasions, under a carefully guarded
sobriquet, he had given a good account of himself against some of the
foremost professionals of the squared circle. He was a man of mighty
muscles, of red blood, and of iron, to whom the strain and sweat of
physical encounter were the breath of life.

He wondered as he carefully selected a tie, at the strange request he
had received at the telephon