her.
Two evenings later they met at a dinner. Their greetings were
conventional, but she looked at him, breathless, wondering, eager. He
was courteous, adamant, waiting her explanation. With womanly
swiftness she took her cue from his manner, and turned to snow and ice.
Thus, and wider from this on, they had drifted apart. Where was his
fault? Who had been to blame? Humbled now, he sought the answer amid
the ruins of his self-conceit. If--

The voice of the other man in the room, querulously intruding upon his
thoughts, aroused him.

"I say, Trysdale, what the deuce is the matter with you? You look
unhappy as if you yourself had been married instead of having acted
merely as an accomplice. Look at me, another accessory, come two
thousand miles on a garlicky, cockroachy banana steamer all the way
from South America to connive at the sacrifice--please to observe how
lightly my guilt rests upon my shoulders. Only little sister I had,
too, and now she's gone. Come now! take something to ease your
conscience."

"I don't drink just now, thanks," said Trysdale.

"Your brandy," resumed the other, coming over and joining him, "is
abominable. Run down to see me some time at Punta Redonda, and try
some of our stuff that old Garcia smuggles in. It's worth the trip.
Hallo! here's an old acquaintance. Wherever did you rake up this
cactus, Trysdale?"

"A present," said Trysdale, "from a friend. Know the species?"

"Very well. It's a tropical concern. See hundreds of 'em around Punta
every day. Here's the name on this tag tied to it. Know any Spanish,
Trysdale?"

"No," said Trysdale, with the bitter wraith of a smile--"Is it Spanish?"

"Yes. The natives imagine the leaves are reaching out and beckoning to
you. They call it by this name--Ventomarme. Name means in English,
'Come and take me.'"

THE DETECTIVE DETECTOR

I was walking in Central Park with Avery Knight, the great New York
burglar, highwayman, and murderer.

"But, my dear Knight," said I, "it sounds incredible. You have
undoubtedly performed some of the most wonderful feats in your
profession known to modern crime. You have committed some marvellous
deeds under the very noses of the police--you have boldly entered the
homes of millionaires and held them up with an empty gun while you made
free with their silver and jewels; you have sandbagged citizens in the
glare of Broadway's electric lights; you have killed and robbed with
superb