hicago?"

"No, dear. I live in New York."

"I didn't even know that," she whispered, "And about me. Our family home
has been in one of the suburbs here since I was a small girl. For several
years I was sent East to school, and after that I went abroad with some
friends. And since then----"

"It can't be so very long," he whispered, "though you speak as though it
were decades."

"It is six years. Since then my father and I have spent our winters in
the East, coming back home for the summers. Just think how much you are
learning about me!"

Orme lifted her hand to his lips.

Suddenly the room filled with a light which to their expanded pupils
seemed bright as the sun. The door had been opened and an electric light
in the reception-hall shone in. Framed in the doorway was the outline of
a man.

Orme shouted joyfully and jumped to his feet.

"Why--what----?" the man began.

Orme helped the girl up, and together they went to the outer light. For a
moment they could do nothing but breathe, so good the fresh air of the
reception-room seemed to them. Then, looking at the man again, Orme saw
that it was the clerk to whom Alcatrante had made his accusation two
hours before.

"How did you come to be in there?" the clerk demanded.

Orme hesitated; then he decided to make no charges. "I got rid of that
crazy fellow who was following me around," he said, "and I came back, and
this young lady and I went in to examine your refrigerator. The door was
ajar, and someone pushed it shut and locked it. We should have smothered
if you had not come."

"It was the merest chance," said the clerk. "My work kept me late. As I
was leaving, I happened to glance at the thermometer dial here. It
registered below freezing. I couldn't understand that, for there is no
ice in the refrigerator, so I opened the door to see."

"I broke the coil," explained Orme, "in the hope that the night watchman
might be interested in the dial."

"Well," said the clerk, drawing a long breath, "you had a close shave.
There isn't any night watchman--at least not in this office. If I had
balanced my books on time to-day, you two would have stayed where you
were until to-morrow morning."

"I will come in to-morrow to see Mr. Wallingham and explain everything. I
will pay for a new thermometer, too, if he will let me."

"I don't think he will let you do that," said the clerk. "He will be
grateful that nothing worse happened."

"Yes, I believe he will," re