hadn't time to," Laurie continued,
"and I was in such a hurry to get back to Miss Mayo that I didn't ask
for many details. But on the way to the garage it occurred to me that I
had a chance for a come-back that would keep you three from feeling too
smug and happy over the way I had gulped down your little plot. So I
planned it, and I rather think," he added complacently, "that I put it
over."

"Put it over!" groaned Epstein. "Mein Gott, I should think you did put
it over! You took twenty years off my life, young man; that's von sure
thing."

He spoke with feeling, and his appearance bore out his words. Even in
these moments of immense relief he looked years older than when he
entered the room.

"You'll revive." Laurie turned to Rodney, who was now facing them. "All
right, old man?"

"I guess so," gulped Rodney. There was no self-consciousness in his
manner. He had passed through blazing hell in the last twenty minutes,
and he did not care who knew it.

"Then," urged Laurie, seeking to divert him, "you may give me the
details Shaw had to skip. How the dickens did you happen to start this
frame-up, anyhow?"

"How much did Shaw tell you?" Rodney tried to speak naturally.

"That the whole adventure was a plant you and Epstein had fixed up to
keep me out of mischief," Laurie repeated, patiently. "He explained that
you had engaged a company to put it over, headed by Miss Mayo, who is a
friend of Mrs. Ordway, and who has a burning ambition to go on the
stage. He said you promised her that if she made a success of it, she
was to have the leading role in our next play. That's about all he told
me."

He did not look at Doris as he spoke, and she observed the omission,
though she dared not look at him. Also, she caught the coldness of his
rich young voice. She hid her face in her hands.

"That's all I know," ended Laurie. "But I want to know some more. Whose
bright little idea was this, in the first place?"

"Mrs. Ordway's."

"Louise's!" Unconsciously Laurie's face softened.

"Yes. I went to see her one day," Bangs explained, "and I mentioned that
we couldn't get any work out of you till you'd had the adventure you
were insisting on. Mrs. Ordway said, 'Well, why don't you give him an
adventure?' That," confessed Rodney, "started me off."

"Obviously," corroborated his friend. "So it was Louise's idea. Poor
Louise! I hope she got some fun out of it."

"You bet she did!" corroborated Bangs, eagerly. "I kept her po