ryn was confident that Northrup _was_
at his first address. It was so like him to creep into a hole and be
very dramatic and secretive. It was his temperament, Kathryn felt,
and she steeled herself against him.

On the morning that Northrup staggered over the rubbish of Hunter's
Point toward Twombley's, Kathryn took her place in her limousine--her
nice little travelling bag at her feet--and viewed with complacency
the back of her Japanese chauffeur who had absorbed and digested all
her directions and would be, henceforth, a well-oiled, safe-running
part of the machinery, without curiosity or opinions.

They stopped for luncheon at a comfortable road-house, rested for an
hour, and then went on. It was mid-afternoon when the yellow house at
the crossroads made its appeal to be questioned.

"I'll run in and ask the way," Kathryn explained, and slowly went up
to the door that once opened so humorously to Northrup's touch. Again
the door responded, and a bit startled, Kathryn found herself in the
presence of a dull-faced girl seated by the table apparently doing
nothing.

"I beg your pardon. Really, I did knock--the door just opened."
Kathryn was confused and stepped back.

In all her dun-coloured life Jan-an had never seen anything so
wonderful as the girl on the doorstep. She was not at all sure but
that she was one of Noreen's fiction creatures. There was a story that
Northrup had told Noreen about Eve's Other Children, and for an
instant Jan-an estimated the likelihood of the stranger being one--she
wasn't altogether wrong, either!

"What you want?" she asked cautiously. Jan-an was, as she put it, "all
skew-y," for the work of the evening before had brought her to a more
confused state than usual.

The world was widening--she included Northrup now in her circle of
protection and she wasn't sure what Eve's Other Children were capable
of doing.

"I want to find out the way to the inn, Heathcote Inn." Kathryn smiled
alluringly.

"Why don't you look at the sign?" There was witchery about that sign,
certainly.

"I did not see the sign. Please excuse me." Then, "Do you happen to
know if there is a Mr. Northrup at the inn?"

"He sleeps there!" Jan-an looked stupid but honest. "Days, he takes to
the woods."

Jan-an meant, as soon as the unearthly visitor departed, to find
Northrup and give the alarm. Kathryn thanked the girl sweetly and
returned to her car. As she did so she saw the sign-board as Northrup
had b