ld inventor isn't to suspect a thing--remember."

"No, sir."

"That is all, then."

With a finality Robert Morton dared not transgress, the older man
lapsed into silence and Bob had no choice but to suppress his gratitude
and resign himself to listening to the rhythmic beat of the
automobile's great engine.

CHAPTER XI

THE GALBRAITH HOUSEHOLD

The estate the Galbraiths had leased stood baldly upon a rise
overlooking the sea in the midst of the fashionable colony adjacent to
Wilton, and was one of those blots which the city luxury-lover affixes
to a community whose keynote is simplicity. Its expanse of veranda,
its fluttering green and white awnings, its giant tubs of blossoming
hydrangeas, to say nothing of its Italian garden with rose-laden
pergolas, were as out of place as if Saint Peter's itself had been
dropped down into a tiny New England fishing hamlet.

The house, it is true, did not lack beauty, for it was well
proportioned and gracefully planned, and there was no denying that one
found, perhaps, more comfort on its screened and shaded piazzas than
was to be enjoyed on Willie Spence's unprotected doorstep.
Nevertheless, there was too much of everything about it: too many
rambler roses, too many rustic baskets and mighty palms; too many urns,
and stone benches, and sundials and fountains. Still, as the car
stopped at the door, the great wicker chairs with their scarlet
cushions presented a gay picture and so, too, did Mrs. Galbraith and
Cynthia who immediately rose from a breezy corner and came forward.

The older woman was tall and handsome and in her youth must have
possessed great beauty; even now she carried with a spoiled air almost
girlish the costly gowns and jewels that her husband, proud of her
looks, lavished upon her. She had a languid grace very fascinating in
its indifference and spoke with a pretty little accent that echoed of
the South. For all her attractiveness, Cynthia could not compare in
charm with her mother whose femininity lured all men toward her as does
a magnet steel.

Bob leaped from the car almost before it had come to a stop and went to
her side, bending low over her heavily ringed hand.

"We're so glad to see you, Bobbie!" she smiled. "The very nicest thing
that could have happened was to find you here."

"It is indeed a delightful surprise for me," Robert Morton answered.
"How are you, Cynthia?"

Cynthia, who was standing in the background, frowned.

"Y