ht to him while he was at dinner. He
put it into his pocket, finished an excellent salad, went to the theater,
came back to the hotel and went to bed and to sleep rather congratulating
himself on the fact that he had become callous to the whole situation,
and that, so far as he was concerned, the crisis was past.

But of course it wasn't. With the rattle of the first milkcart, which in
a modern city has taken the place of the half-awakened bird, he woke up,
and if he had been in jail he could not have felt a more choking sense of
imprisonment. There was no escape for him, no hope.

He got up and looked out at the city far below, all outlined like a great
electric sign that said nothing. There must be some way of being free,
besides jumping from the twelfth story window. He lit a cigarette, and
stood thinking. Men disappeared every day; it could be done. What were
the chances, he wondered, of being identified if he shipped as steward,
or engineer for that matter, on a South American freighter?

It was full daylight before he found himself in possession of a possible
scheme. He remembered the legend of a certain Saint, told him by his
nurse in his early days. She had been beautiful, too beautiful for her
religious ideals; the number of her suitors was distracting; so to one of
them who had extravagantly admired her eyes she sent them on a salver.

Riatt did not intend sending Christine his worldly goods, but recognizing
that they were the source of the whole trouble, he decided to get rid of
the major part. The problem was simply to lose his money before the date
set for the wedding. And that was not so difficult, after all. There were
a number of people in the metropolis he thought who would give him every
assistance.

The problem of getting it back again at some future time was more
complicated, but even that he thought he could accomplish. He had made
one fortune and he supposed he could some day make another.

The practical question was: What sum would make him impossible to
Christine as a husband? Twenty thousand a year would be out of the
question. But to be perfectly safe he decided to leave himself only
fifteen thousand. He would begin operation as soon as the exchange opened
in the morning. In the meantime what about that mine of Welsley's? There
was an easy means of sinking almost any sum.

He took up the telephone and sent a telegram at once.

"Plans for my wedding prevent trip to mine. Have, however, de