Snodgrass transferred to
me in the taxi; _n'est-ce pas?_"

"Exactly, Madeline."

"And it's three strong men and one woman against poor me," she
shrugged--"unless Mrs. Clephane is merely a disinterested spectator."

"I am always interested in what Mr. Harleston does," Edith replied
sweetly.

"Particularly when he is doing another woman," was the retort.

"It depends somewhat on the woman done," said Edith.

"Why are you here?" Mrs. Spencer laughed.

"To see the end of the affair of the cab-of-the-sleeping-horse."

Mrs. Spencer shrugged and turned to Harleston.

"Do you expect to end it, Guy?" she asked. "Because if you do, and this
formulaic letter, that you think I have, will end it, I am sorry indeed
to disappoint you. I haven't that letter, nor do I know anything as to
it."

"In that event you have the consideration which you were to pay for the
letter," Harleston returned.

"My dear Guy, where would I carry this consideration?" she laughed, with
a sweeping motion to her narrow lingerie gown that could not so much as
conceal a pocket.

"I don't imagine that you are carrying gold or even Bank of England
notes. You're not so crude. The consideration is, most likely, a note to
the German Ambassador, on the presentation of which the money will be
paid in good American gold. And I'm so sure of the facts that it is
either the formula or the consideration. The latter we shall not
appropriate; the former we shall keep."

"And if I have neither?" she asked.

"Then we get neither--though that is a consummation most unlikely."

"And how are you to determine?"

"By your gracious surrender of it!"

She laughed softly. "But if I am not able to be gracious?"

"I trust that we shall not be obliged to go so far." And when she would
have answered he cut her short, courteously but with finality. "You've
lost, Madeline; now be a good loser. You've won from me, and made me pay
stakes and then some--and I've paid and smiled."

"Exactly! You've paid; I can't pay, because one loses before one pays,
and I haven't anything to lose."

"You will prove it?" he asked.

"Certainly," said she. "Do you wish me to submit to a search?"

"I don't wish it, but you have left no alternative."

"Burr!" went the telephone.

The Secretary answered. "Here is Mr. Harleston," he said and pushed the
instrument over.

"This is Ranleigh," came the voice. "We've searched the man, also the
cab, and found nothing beyond some innocent p