d.

The man withdrew as softly as he had come. After a moment, Newmark
replaced the magazine on the table, yawned, threw aside the cigar, of
which he had smoked but an inch, and passed from his study into
his bedroom across the hall. This contained an exquisite Colonial
four-poster, with a lowboy and dresser to match, and was papered and
carpeted in accordance with these, its chief ornaments. Newmark bathed
in the adjoining bathroom, shaved carefully between the two wax
lights which were his whim, and dressed in what were then known as
"swallow-tail" clothes. Probably he was the only man in Monrovia at that
moment so apparelled. Then calmly, and with all the deliberation of one
under fire of a hundred eyes, he proceeded to the dining-room, where
waited the man who had a short time before reminded him of the hour. He
was a solemn, dignified man, whose like was not to be found elsewhere
this side the city. He, too, wore the "swallow-tail," but its buttons
were of gilt.

Newmark seated himself in a leather-upholstered mahogany chair before a
small, round, mahogany table. The room was illuminated only by four wax
candles with red shades. They threw into relief the polish of mahogany,
the glitter of glass, the shine of silver, but into darkness the detail
of massive sideboard, dull panelling, and the two or three dark-toned
sporting prints on the wall.

"You may serve dinner, Mallock," said Newmark.

He ate deliberately and with enjoyment the meal, exquisitely prepared
and exquisitely presented to him. With it he drank a single glass of
Burgundy--a deed that would, in the eyes of Monrovia, have condemned him
as certainly as driving a horse on Sunday or playing cards for a stake.
Afterward he returned to the study, whither Mallock brought coffee. He
lit another cigar, opened a drawer in his desk, extracted therefrom some
bank-books and small personal account books. From these he figured all
the evening. His cigar went out, but he did not notice that, and chewed
away quite contentedly on the dead butt. When he had finished, his cold
eye exhibited a gleam of satisfaction. He had resolved on a course of
action. At ten o'clock he went to bed.

Next morning Mallock closed the door behind him promptly upon the stroke
of eight. It was strange that not one living soul but Mallock had ever
entered Newmark's abode. Curiosity had at first brought a few callers;
but these were always met by the imperturbable servant with so plausibl