rived
about half an hour ago, and I guess you must be the one he means."

"Did he say who he is?" asked Aubrey.

"No, sir."

For a moment Aubrey thought of refusing to answer the call. Then it
occurred to him that this would arouse Mrs. Schiller's suspicions. He
ran down to the telephone, which stood under the stairs in the front
hall.

"Hello," he said.

"Is this the new guest?" said a voice--a deep, gargling kind of voice.

"Yes," said Aubrey.

"Is this the gentleman that arrived half an hour ago with a handbag?"

"Yes; who are you?"

"I'm a friend," said the voice; "I wish you well."

"How do you do, friend and well-wisher," said Aubrey genially.

"I schust want to warn you that Gissing Street is not healthy for you,"
said the voice.

"Is that so?" said Aubrey sharply. "Who are you?"

"I am a friend," buzzed the receiver. There was a harsh, bass note in
the voice that made the diaphragm at Aubrey's ear vibrate tinnily.
Aubrey grew angry.

"Well, Herr Freund," he said, "if you're the well-wisher I met on the
Bridge last night, watch your step. I've got your number."

There was a pause. Then the other repeated, ponderously, "I am a
friend. Gissing Street is not healthy for you." There was a click,
and he had rung off.

Aubrey was a good deal perplexed. He returned to his room, and sat in
the dark by the window, smoking a pipe and thinking, with his eyes on
the bookshop.

There was no longer any doubt in his mind that something sinister was
afoot. He reviewed in memory the events of the past few days.

It was on Monday that a bookloving friend had first told him of the
existence of the shop on Gissing Street. On Tuesday evening he had
gone round to visit the place, and had stayed to supper with Mr.
Mifflin. On Wednesday and Thursday he had been busy at the office, and
the idea of an intensive Daintybit campaign in Brooklyn had occurred to
him. On Friday he had dined with Mr. Chapman, and had run into a
curious string of coincidences. He tabulated them:--

(1) The Lost ad in the Times on Friday morning.

(2) The chef in the elevator carrying the book that was supposed to be
lost--he being the same man Aubrey had seen in the bookshop on Tuesday
evening.

(3) Seeing the chef again on Gissing Street.

(4) The return of the book to the bookshop.

(5) Mifflin had said that the book had been stolen from him. Then why
should it be either advertised or returned?

(6) The rebinding