-town car, and arrived at the Monmouth House flats just in
time to meet Martha Grimes issuing into the street. She was not at all
the same Martha. She was very neatly dressed, her shoes were nicely
polished, her clothes well brushed, her gloves new, and she wore a bunch
of fresh-looking violets in her waistband. She started in surprise as
Philip accosted her.

"Whatever are you doing back in the slums?" she demanded. "Any fresh
trouble?"

"Nothing particular," Philip replied, turning round and falling into step
with her. "I can't see my way, that's all, and I want to talk to you.
You're the most human person I know, and you understand Elizabeth."

"Gee!" she smiled. "This is the lion and the mouse, with a vengeance. You
can walk with me, if you like, as far as the block before the theatre.
I'm not going to arrive there with you, and I tell you so straight."

"No followers, eh?"

"There's no reason to set people talking," she declared. "Their tongues
wag fast enough at the theatre, as it is. I've only been there for one
day's work, and it seems to me I've heard the inside history of every one
connected with the place."

"That makes what I have to say easier," he remarked. "Just what do they
say about Miss Dalstan and Mr. Sylvanus Power?"

She looked at him indignantly.

"If you think you're going to worm things out of me--"

"Don't be foolish," he interrupted, a little wearily. "How could you know
anything? You are only the echo of a thousand voices. I could find out,
if I went where they gossip. I don't. In effect I don't care, but I am up
against a queer situation. I want to know just what people think of them.
Afterwards I'll tell you the truth."

"Well, they profess to think," she said slowly, "that the theatre belongs
to Miss Dalstan, and that she--"

"Stop, please," he interrupted. "I know you hate saying it, and I know
quite well what you mean. Well, what about that?"

"It isn't my affair."

"It isn't true," he told her.

"Whether it's true or not, she is one of the best women in the world,"
Martha declared vigorously.

"There isn't any doubt about that, either," he assented. "This is the
situation. Listen. Sylvanus Power has been in love with Elizabeth for the
best part of his life. He built that theatre for her and offered it--at a
price. She accepted his terms. When the time came for payment, he saw her
flinch. He went away again and has just come back. She is face to face
now with a decision