is stamping about inside. I hope you've got some good excuse or
there'll be the dickens to pay."

The door of the inner office was suddenly opened. Mr. Weatherley
appeared upon the threshold. He recognized Arnold with an expression
partly of anger, partly of relief.

"So here you are at last, young man!" he exclaimed. "Where the
dickens have you been to all this while? Come in--come in at once!
Do you see the time?"

"I am very sorry indeed, sir," Arnold replied. "I can assure you
that I have not wasted a moment that I know of."

"Then what in the name of goodness did you find to keep you occupied
all this time?" Mr. Weatherley demanded, pushing him through into
the office and closing the door behind them. "Did you see Mr.
Rosario? Did you give him the message?"

"I had no opportunity, sir," Arnold answered gravely.

"No opportunity? What do you mean? Didn't he come to the Milan?
Didn't you see him at all?"

"He came, sir," Arnold admitted, "but I was not able to see him in
time. I thought, perhaps," he added, "that you might have heard what
happened."

Mr. Weatherley had reached the limits of his patience. He struck the
table with his clenched fist. For a moment anger triumphed over his
state of nervous excitability.

"Heard?" he cried. "Heard what? What the devil should I hear down
here? If you've anything to tell, why don't you tell it me? Why do
you stand there looking like a--"

Mr. Weatherley was suddenly frightened. He understood from Arnold's
expression that something serious had happened.

"My God!" he exclaimed. "Mrs. Weatherley--my wife--"

"Mrs. Weatherley is quite well," Arnold assured him quickly. "It is
Mr. Rosario."

"What of him? What about Rosario?"

"He is dead," Arnold announced. "You will read all about it in the
evening papers. He was murdered--just as he was on the point of
entering the Milan Grill Room."

Mr. Weatherley began to shake. He looked like a man on the verge of
a collapse. He was still, however, able to ask a question.

"By whom?"

"The murderer was not caught," Arnold told him. "No one seems to
have seen him clearly, it all took place so quickly. He stole out of
some corner where he must have been hiding, and he was gone before
anyone had time to realize what was happening."

Mr. Weatherley had been standing up all this time, clutching
nervously at his desk. He suddenly collapsed into his easy-chair.
His face was gray, his mouth twitched as though he were ab