now against him. He may have reformed
for all I know. But that was his record some years ago."

"I don't think he'll dare come here again," went on Helen. "He's
exceedingly offensive, and yet he has about him a certain magnetism
that compels your attention, even while his manner and look repels and
irritates. Only the other day he----"

Before she could complete the sentence, there was a loud ring at the
front door bell. Helen hastily rose, but Ray had already gone forward.

"It's Mr. Parker," she cried. "I saw him coming from the window."

The next instant the door of the drawing-room was flung open and Mr.
Parker appeared.

"Hallo, ladies! Howdy, Steell!"

The president of the Americo-African Mining Company was not looking his
usual debonair self that evening. His manner was nervous and
flustered, his face pale and drawn with anxious lines. His coat lacked
the customary boutonniere, and his crumpled linen and unshaved chin
suggested that he had come direct from his office after a strenuous day
without stopping to go through the formality of making a change of
attire.

Helen was quick to note the alteration in his appearance, and her first
instinct, naturally, was to associate it with her husband. Something
was amiss.

"There's nothing wrong, is there?" she asked in alarm.

"No, no, my dear woman!"

But his tone was not convincing. He always called her "my dear woman"
when nervous or excited, and "my dear lady" in his calmer moods. She
at once remarked it, and it did not tend to reassure her. Now greatly
alarmed she laid a trembling hand on his arm.

"Tell me, please! Don't hide anything from me. Has anything happened
to Kenneth?"

"No--no; of course not." Quickly changing the subject he asked: "You
got a message."

"Yes--a cablegram. It came just now."

"Have you got it? Let me see it."

"Yes, certainly," said Helen, looking around for the dispatch. Unable
to find it, she called to her sister.

"Ray, dear, what did you do with Kenneth's cablegram?"

Her sister came up to assist in the search, in which even Mr. Steell
joined. But the search was fruitless. The cablegram had disappeared.

"Oh, I know!" suddenly exclaimed Ray. "It must have been carried away
with the tea things."

"That's right! I never thought of that!" said Helen.

The next instant the two women hurried out of the room in the direction
of the kitchen.

The instant they had disappeared Mr. Parker turned