asserted Skidder.

Puma's dazzling smile congratulated him upon the accumulation of a
fabulous fortune.

"I had you looked up," continued Skidder. "It listened good. And--I
got money, too. And I got that property in my vest pocket. See. And
there's a certain busted fillum corporation can be bought for a
postage stamp--all 'ncorporated 'n everything. You get me?"

No; Mr. Puma, who was all art and heart, could not comprehend what Mr.
Skidder was driving at.

"This here busted fillum company is called the _Super-Picture
Fillums_," said Skidder. "What's the matter with you and me buying it?
Don't you ever do a little tradin'?"

Jim rose, utterly disgusted, but immensely amused at himself, and
realising, now, how entirely right Sharrow had been in desiring to be
rid of this man Skidder, and of Puma and the property in question.

He said, still smiling, but rather grimly: "I see, now, that this is
no place for a broker who lives by his commissions." And he bade them
adieu with perfect good humour.

"Have a seegar?" inquired Skidder blandly.

"Why do you go, sir?" asked Puma innocently. No doubt, being all heart
and art, he did not comprehend that brokers can not exist on cigars
alone.

* * * * *

His commission had gone glimmering. Sharrow, evidently foreseeing
something of that sort, had sent him out with Puma to meet Skidder and
rid the office of the dubious affair.

This Jim understood, and yet he was not particularly pleased to be
exploited by this bland pair who had come suddenly to an understanding
under his very nose--the understanding of two petty, dickering,
crossroad traders, which coolly excluded any possibility both of his
services and of his commission.

"No; only a kike lawyer is required now," he said to himself, as he
crossed the street and entered Central Park. "I've been properly
trimmed by a perfumed wop and a squinting yap," he thought with
intense amusement. "But we're well clear of them for good."

* * * * *

The park was wintry and unattractive. Few pedestrians were abroad, but
motors sparkled along distant drives in the sunshine.

Presently his way ran parallel to one of these drives. And he had been
walking only a little while when a limousine veered in, slowing down
abreast of him, and he saw a white-gloved hand tapping the pane.

He felt himself turning red as he went up, hat in hand, to open the