ement.

"Jerold!" she started. "Please lock the door and----" when she was
interrupted by the entrance of a man.

Dorothy gave a little cry and fled behind the desk.

Garrison faced the intruder, a tall, flaxen-haired, blue-eyed man with
a long mustache--a person with every mark of the gentleman upon him.

"Well, sir," said Garrison, in some indignation, "what can I do for
you?"

"We'll wait a minute and see," said the stranger. "My name is Jerold
Fairfax, and I came to claim my wife."

Garrison almost staggered. It was like a bolt from the bluest sky,
where naught but the sun of glory had been visible.

"Dorothy! What does he mean?" he said, turning at once to the girl.

She sank weakly to a chair and could not meet the question in his eyes.

"Didn't you hear what I said?" demanded the visitor. "This is my wife
and I'd like to know what it means, you or somebody else passing
yourself off in my place!"

Garrison still looked at Dorothy.

"This isn't true, what the man is saying?" he inquired.

She tried to look up. "I--I---- Forgive me, please," she said.
"He's--He followed me here----"

"Certainly I followed," interrupted the stranger. "Why wouldn't I
follow my wife? What does this mean, all this stuff they've been
printing in the papers about some man passing as your husband?" He
snatched out a newspaper abruptly, and waved it in the air.

"And if you're the man," he added, turning to Garrison, "I'll inform
you right now----"

"That will do for you," Garrison interrupted. "This lady has come to
my office on a matter of business. My services to her have nothing to
do with you or any of your claims. And let me impress upon you the
fact that her affairs with me are private in character, and that you
are here uninvited."

"The devil I am!" answered Fairfax, practically as cool as Garrison
himself. "I'll inform you that a man needs no invitation from a
stranger, lawyer, detective, or otherwise, to seek the presence of his
wife. And now that I've found her I demand that she come along with
me!"

Dorothy started to her feet and fled behind Garrison.

"Please don't let him stay!" she said. "Don't let him touch me,
please!"

Garrison faced the intruder calmly.

"I permit no one to issue orders in this office, either to me or my
clients," he said. "Unless you are a far better man than I, you will
do nothing to compel this lady to depart until she wishes to do so.
You will oblige me by