him
toward the open door to close it.

"Excuse," said he of the thick spectacles; and Barres stopped short:

"Well, what is it?" he asked sharply.

The man, who was well dressed and powerfully built, squinted through
his spectacles out of little, inflamed and pig-like eyes.

"Miss Dunois iss here?" he enquired politely. "I haff a message----"

"What is your name?"

"Excuse, please. My name iss not personally known to Miss Dunois----"

"Then what is your business with Miss Dunois?"

"Excuse, please. It iss of a delicacy--of a nature quite private, iff
you please."

Barres inspected him in hostile silence for a moment, then came to a
swift conclusion.

"Very well. Step inside," he said briefly.

"I thank you, I will wait here----"

"Step inside!" snapped Barres.

Startled into silence, the man only blinked at him. Under the other's
searching, suspicious gaze, the small, pig-like eyes were now shifting
uneasily; then, as Barres took an abrupt step forward, the man shrank
away and stammered out something about a letter which he was to
deliver to Miss Dunois in private.

"You say you have a letter for Miss Dunois?" demanded Barres, now
determined to get hold of him.

"I am instructed to giff it myself to her in private, all alone----"

"Give it to _me_!"

"I am instruc----"

"Give it to me, I tell you!--and come inside here! Do you hear what
I'm saying to you?"

The spectacled man lost most of his colour as Barres started toward
him.

"Excuse!" he faltered, backing off down the corridor. "I giff you the
letter!" And he hastily thrust his hand into the side pocket of his
coat. But it was a pistol he poked under the other's nose--a shiny,
lumpy weapon, clutched most unsteadily.

"Hands up and turn me once around your back!" whispered the man
hoarsely. "Quick!--or I shoot you!"--as the other, astounded, merely
gazed at him. The man had already begun to back away again, but as
Barres moved he stopped and cursed him:

"Put them up your hands!" snarled the spectacled man, with a final
oath. "Keep your distance or I kill you!"

Barres heard himself saying, in a voice not much like his own:

"You can't do this to me and get away with it! It's nonsense! This
sort of thing doesn't go in New York!"

Suddenly his mind grew coldly, terrible clear:

"No, you _can't_ get away with it!" he concluded aloud, in the calm,
natural voice of conviction. "Your stunt is scaring women! You try to
keep clear of men