course, to the door
of number Nine-ninety-two and the seclusion which lay behind it.
He was still chattering away gayly as the lift dropped down out of
sight and left them, upon which he shut the door, locked it upon
the inside, and stopping long enough to catch up a towel and hang
it over the keyhole, turned on his heel and groaned.

"What! am I not to have even a two days' respite, you indefatigable
_machine_?" he said, as he walked across the room and threw himself
into a chair with a sigh of annoyance. "Think! it was only this
morning that I ventured upon the first casual bow of a fellow guest
with the dear 'Baron'; only at luncheon we exchanged the first civil
word. But the ice was broken and I should have had him 'roped in' by
teatime--I am sure of it. And now you come and nip my hopes in the
bud like this. And in a disguise that a fellow as sharp as he would
see through in a wink if he met you."

"It was the best I could do, Cleek--I'm not a dabster in the art
of making up, as you know." Mr. Narkom's voice was, like his air,
duly apologetic. "Besides, I hung around until I saw him go out
before I ventured in; although I was on thorns the whole blessed
time. I had to see you, old chap--I simply had to--and every minute
was of importance. I shouldn't have ventured to come at all if it
hadn't been imperative."

"I'm sure of that," said Cleek, recovering his good humour instantly.
"Don't mind my beastly bad temper this afternoon, there's a good
friend. It's a bit of a disappointment, of course, after I'd looked
forward to a clear field just as soon as Waldemar should return,
but----It is you, first and foremost, at all times and under all
circumstances. Other matters count as nothing with me when _you_
call. Always remember that."

"I do, old chap. It's because I do that I went to the length of
promising Miss Larue that I'd lay the case before you."

"Miss Larue? A moment, please. Will the lady to whom you refer be
Miss Margaret Larue, the celebrated actress? The one in question
who treated me so cavalierly last August in that business regarding
the disappearance of that chap James Colliver?"

"Yes. He was her brother, you recollect, and--don't get hot about
it, Cleek. I know she treated you very badly in that case, and so
does she, but----"

"She treated me abominably!" interposed Cleek, with some heat.
"First setting me on the business, and then calling me off just
as I had got a grip on the thing and wa