's hand which he left till the last, amusing himself by trying to
guess the identity of the writer, the writing being not altogether
strange to him. When at length he gave over this profitless employment,
he read:

"DEAR HUGH: I can call you that, now, because you're Peter's
dearest friend and therefore mine, and the proof of that is that
I'm telling you first of all of our great happiness. Peter and I
found out that we loved one another only yesterday, so we're going
to be married the first of June and...."

Whitaker read no more. He could guess the rest, and for the moment he
felt too sick a man to go through to the end. Indeed, the words were
blurring and running together beneath his gaze.

After a long time he put the letter aside, absent-mindedly swallowed a
cup of lukewarm coffee and rose from an otherwise untasted meal.

"That settles that, of course," he said quietly. "And it means I've got
to hustle to get ahead of Peter."

He set busily about his preparations, thinking quickly while he packed.
It occurred to him that he had, after all, several hours in which to
catch together the loose ends of things and make an exit without leaving
the businesses of his clients in a hopeless snarl; Peter Stark would
sleep till eleven, at least, and it would be late in the afternoon
before the young man could see his fiancee and find out from her that
Whitaker knew of the sacrifice Peter contemplated for friendship's sake.

Whitaker packed a hand-bag with a few essentials, not forgetting the
bottle of chloral. He was not yet quite sure what he meant to do after
he had definitely put himself out of Peter Stark's sphere of influence,
but he hadn't much doubt that the drug was destined to play a most
important part in the ultimate solution, and would as readily have
thought of leaving it behind as of going without a toothbrush or railway
fare.

Leaving the bag in the parcels-room at the Grand Central Station, he
went down-town to his office and put in a busy morning. Happily his
partner, Drummond, was out of town for the day; so he was able to put
his desk in order unhindered by awkward questionings. He worked
expeditiously, having no callers until just before he was ready to
leave. Then he was obliged to admit one who desired to make a settlement
in an action brought against him by Messrs. Drummond & Whitaker. He took
Whitaker's receipt for the payment in cash, leaving behind him fifteen
one-hund