. Perkins at the office. Accordingly he answered, "Yes,
sir. I should like to see him."

The clerk rang a bell and another bell boy made his appearance.

"Write your name on a card," said the clerk, "and I will send it up."

"The gentleman won't know my name," said Chester.

"Then give the name of your firm."

So Chester, after slight hesitation, wrote:

"Chester Rand. From Clement Fairchild, Real Estate Broker."

"Take that up to 169," said the clerk to the bell boy.

In five minutes the boy returned.

"Mr. Perkins says you are to come upstairs to his room," he reported.

Chester followed the bell boy to the elevator.

He had never before ridden in such a conveyance and the sensation was a
novel one. They got off at one of the upper floors, and Chester
followed his guide to the door of a room near by.

The bell boy knocked.

"Come in," was heard from the inside.

Chester entered and found himself in the presence of a man of fifty,
with a sandy complexion and thick, brown beard. He held the card in his
hand, and was looking at it.

"Are you Chester Rand?" he asked, in a high-pitched voice.

"Yes, sir."

"And you come from Clement Fairchild?"

"Yes, sir."

"This is very curious. I never heard the name before."

Chester looked surprised.

"I can't explain it, sir," he said. "I was asked to come to the hotel
and ask if you had arrived."

"Where is Mr. Fairchild's office?"

"On West Fourteenth Street."

"And he is a real estate broker?"

"Yes, sir."

"I don't understand what he wants of me, or how in the name of all that
is curious he ever heard of me. I don't own any real estate, except a
three-story house in which I live."

"Perhaps, sir, if you will go to the office with me you will get an
explanation."

"Precisely. That is a very practical and sensible suggestion. Is it far
off? I ask because I have never been in New York before."

"It is only about ten minutes' walk."

"Then I'll go with you, that is, if you can wait fifteen minutes while
I finish writing a letter to my wife, apprising her of my safe
arrival."

"Yes, sir, I am in no especial hurry."

"Then sit down, and--you may look at this," handing him the last copy
of _Puck_.

Chester opened the paper eagerly, for _Puck_ had accepted two of his
sketches. He opened it at random, and his eye lighted up, for there was
one of the two sketches handsomely reproduced. He uttered a little
exclamation.

"What have you found?" a