finest treasures--a
carved and floriated base bearing a tapering monolith some four feet
high, crowned by the head of a peculiarly goatish Pan, by the side of
which were the problematic remains of a lovely nude nymph--just the
little feet broken off at the ankles. The base on which the feet of
the nymph and the monolith stood was ornamented with carved ox-skulls
intertwined with roses. In his reception hall were replicas of Caligula,
Nero, and other Roman emperors; and on his stair-walls reliefs of
dancing nymphs in procession, and priests bearing offerings of sheep and
swine to the sacrificial altars. There was a clock in some corner of the
house which chimed the quarter, the half, the three-quarters, and the
hour in strange, euphonious, and pathetic notes. On the walls of the
rooms were tapestries of Flemish origin, and in the reception-hall, the
library, the living-room, and the drawing-room, richly carved furniture
after the standards of the Italian Renaissance. The Senator's taste in
the matter of paintings was inadequate, and he mistrusted it; but such
as he had were of distinguished origin and authentic. He cared more for
his curio-cases filled with smaller imported bronzes, Venetian glass,
and Chinese jade. He was not a collector of these in any notable
sense--merely a lover of a few choice examples. Handsome tiger and
leopard skin rugs, the fur of a musk-ox for his divan, and tanned
and brown-stained goat and kid skins for his tables, gave a sense
of elegance and reserved profusion. In addition the Senator had a
dining-room done after the Jacobean idea of artistic excellence, and
a wine-cellar which the best of the local vintners looked after with
extreme care. He was a man who loved to entertain lavishly; and when his
residence was thrown open for a dinner, a reception, or a ball, the best
of local society was to be found there.

The conference was in the Senator's library, and he received his
colleagues with the genial air of one who has much to gain and little
to lose. There were whiskies, wines, cigars on the table, and while
Mollenhauer and Simpson exchanged the commonplaces of the day awaiting
the arrival of Butler, they lighted cigars and kept their inmost
thoughts to themselves.

It so happened that upon the previous afternoon Butler had
learned from Mr. David Pettie, the district attorney, of the
sixty-thousand-dollar-check transaction. At the same time the matter
had been brought to Mollenhauer's at