and go
to sleep on the hearth-rug as Kitty and Bea wish him to. On the contrary,
owing to his mother's watchful vigilance, he is sniffing around quite
suspiciously, and," with a series of chuckles, "I believe, although I am
not sure yet, that the fair Marcia has a rival, and a rival to be
reckoned with, I assure you."

Hayden felt he had stood all that he could. Penfield really was too
offensive. His first impulse was to turn on his heel and leave his
companion without a word; but on second thoughts, he decided to retain
Penfield's company, and put into execution a little plan which was
rapidly maturing in his brain, and which appealed to his hazard-loving
fancy. It was a mere chance, one in a million, but he considered it worth
taking. Penfield knew all the world and its affairs. He, more than any
one Hayden could think of, might be of use to him in a certain Argonautic
expedition he was adventuring upon. He decided to put it to the test,
anyway.

"So you, too, are interested in mines," he said, with an easy change of
subject. "Well," with a short laugh, "as far as they are concerned, I
happen to be in the position of a man who sees a spring of water in the
desert and may not stoop to drink of it."

"What on earth do you mean?" cried Horace. His head shot forward, his
nose twitched. He scented a fresh piece of news as a dog scents truffles.
"Have you found a fortune?" His curiosity was as fully aroused as Hayden
hoped.

They had reached the latter's apartment by this time and Hayden paused a
moment on the step. "Come in," he said, "and I will tell you. You have
not seen my diggings, anyway."

By what he considered a sheer stroke of luck, he, Hayden, had not been
two days in New York, when an old friend, who was under the necessity of
taking a long journey with the expectation of being absent several
months, urged him to take possession of the apartment he and his wife
were temporarily vacating. After a sight of it, Hayden gladly embraced
the opportunity and now, he and his Japanese servant, Tatsu, the
companion of ten wandering years, were installed in beautiful and
luxurious quarters which had come without the lifting of a finger to
secure them.

Here was a fresh field for Penfield's inevitable investigations, and
Hayden's disclosures of his private affairs, deeply as they interested
him, could wait a bit. Horace was patient by nature and training. "One
thing at a time," was a favorite motto, and it was not un