to borrow a policeman's cape and shoot a quart into a decanter."

The quelled waiter hurried away and brought a carafe. Spencer
professed to be so pleased with his rare intelligence that he gave him
a shilling. Then he opened the envelop with the Leadville postmark. It
contained a draft for 205 pounds, 15 shillings, 11 pence, and the
accompanying letter from a firm of solicitors showed that the
remittance of a thousand dollars was the moiety of the proceeds of a
clean-up on certain tailings taken over by the purchasers of the
Battle Mountain tunnel. The sum was not a large one; but it seemed to
give its recipient such satisfaction that the movement of chairs on
the floor of the big room just beneath failed to draw his attention
from the lawyer's statement.

A woman's languid, well bred voice broke in on this apparently
pleasant reverie.

"Shall we sit here, Helen?"

"Anywhere you like, dear. It is all the same to me. Thanks to you, I
am passing an afternoon in wonderland. I find my surroundings so novel
and entertaining that I should still be excited if you were to put me
in the refrigerator."

The eager vivacity of the second speaker--the note of undiluted and
almost childlike glee with which she acknowledged that a visit to a
luxurious hotel was a red letter day in her life--caused the man to
glance at the two young women who had unconsciously disturbed him.
Evidently, they had just risen from luncheon in the restaurant, and
meant to dispose themselves for a chat. It was equally clear that each
word they uttered in an ordinary conversational tone must be audible
to him. They were appropriating chairs which would place the plumes of
their hats within a few inches of his feet. When seated, their faces
would be hidden from him, save for a possible glimpse of a profile as
one or other turned toward her companion. But for a few seconds he had
a good view of both, and he was young enough to find the scrutiny to
his liking.

At the first glance, the girl who was acting as hostess might be
deemed the more attractive of the pair. She was tall, slender,
charmingly dressed, and carried herself with an assured elegance that
hinted of the stage. Spencer caught a glint of corn flower blue eyes
beneath long lashes, and a woman would have deduced from their color
the correct explanation of a blue sunshade, a blue straw hat, and a
light cape of Myosotis blue silk that fell from shapely shoulders over
a white lace gown.

The