y--laughs that would be
the richer and more enjoyable because he alone possessed the key to the
joke. That would be after the shock had passed, of course; enough for
the present to sigh again and again and think gloriously that each
second brought David that much nearer to leaving.

Yet David had not departed, even when Anthony had given the last twitch
to his morning coat and the last dab to his thin, rather prim hair. He
listened, as he entered the living-room, and then risked a quiet trip
across and looked down the corridor; David's door was closed tightly
and--yes, even though it caused Anthony's hair to rise and his cheek to
flush angrily, David was singing a faint little snatch of song in a
perfectly indubitable soprano!

The little fool should have had more sense; Anthony listened, started
down to halt the song and turned back as quickly, to head for Johnson
Boller's room and engage that citizen in conversation, for that was the
important thing just now. He turned the knob and would have entered
rather breezily, but that Johnson Boller, fully groomed and ready for
the day, walked out suddenly and resistlessly and looked around with:

"Where's the kid?"

"Er--dressing," said Anthony.

"Where's breakfast?" Mr. Boller pursued.

Inspiration came swiftly to Anthony.

"I breakfast in here as a rule," said he, "but--just this morning, you
know--I thought we might go below. It's not so quiet down there and
there's more to see, Johnson, and----"

Johnson Boller sprawled comfortably in a chair near the corridor and
grinned.

"Nix!" said he, with a shake of the head. "We'll eat right here; I'm all
done with that noisy stuff, Anthony, and this is more homelike. And
then, another thing," he added more seriously, "I want to cross-examine
that little shaver in private, as it were. This idea of settling him in
the house without knowing anything about him is downright crazy. I want
to ask him about that French doll and----."

He stopped. The window at the end of the corridor was open and the fresh
morning breeze was blowing lightly past him. Also, he sniffed.

"Who's using perfume around here?" asked Johnson Boller.

"What?"

"Strong--rank!" said Anthony's guest. "Don't you smell it?"

"I smell nothing," Anthony said, as an expensive pungence tickled his
nostrils suddenly, "but I'll see----"

He started for the corridor and stopped short. David had left his room
and was coming down--and still, it did not sound