m over the telephone.

"That you, Archie? Won't you come up? I'm having some supper and I'd
like company. Late? What does that matter? I won't keep you long."

Archie dropped his overcoat and set out for room 811. He found Ottenburg
in the act of touching a match to a chafing-dish, at a table laid for
two in his sitting-room. "I'm catering here," he announced cheerfully.
"I let the waiter off at midnight, after he'd set me up. You'll have to
account for yourself, Archie."

The doctor laughed, pointing to three wine-coolers under the table. "Are
you expecting guests?"

"Yes, two." Ottenburg held up two fingers,--"you, and my higher self.
He's a thirsty boy, and I don't invite him often. He has been known to
give me a headache. Now, where have you been, Archie, until this
shocking hour?"

"Bah, you've been banting!" the doctor exclaimed, pulling out his white
gloves as he searched for his handkerchief and throwing them into a
chair. Ottenburg was in evening clothes and very pointed dress shoes.
His white waistcoat, upon which the doctor had fixed a challenging eye,
went down straight from the top button, and he wore a camelia. He was
conspicuously brushed and trimmed and polished. His smoothly controlled
excitement was wholly different from his usual easy cordiality, though
he had his face, as well as his figure, well in hand. On the
serving-table there was an empty champagne pint and a glass. He had been
having a little starter, the doctor told himself, and would probably be
running on high gear before he got through. There was even now an air of
speed about him.

"Been, Freddy?"--the doctor at last took up his question. "I expect I've
been exactly where you have. Why didn't you tell me you were coming on?"

"I wasn't, Archie." Fred lifted the cover of the chafingdish and stirred
the contents. He stood behind the table, holding the lid with his
handkerchief. "I had never thought of such a thing. But Landry, a young
chap who plays her accompaniments and who keeps an eye out for me,
telegraphed me that Madame Rheinecker had gone to Atlantic City with a
bad throat, and Thea might have a chance to sing ELSA. She has sung it
only twice here before, and I missed it in Dresden. So I came on. I got
in at four this afternoon and saw you registered, but I thought I wouldn't
butt in. How lucky you got here just when she was coming on for
this. You couldn't have hit a better time." Ottenburg stirred the
contents of the dish