."

"Yes," murmured Anthony.

"And if it will help any in rousing you out of that apathetic state,"
the girl concluded, "you may as well know that there isn't the slightest
doubt in the world that the police have a general alarm for me long
before this!"

"Wow!" said Johnson Boller.

"I am--trying to think!" Anthony said with difficulty.

So far as posture went, he looked it. His lean hands were gripping the
edges of the table nervously, and his head was bent again; he scowled
and then shook his head as if to dispel the scowl. He cleared his throat
repeatedly; he glanced at Johnson Boller, whose expression was divided
between irrepressible amusement and some concern--and he cleared his
throat once more and stared his fried egg fixedly in its lone eye.

Thus he was sitting after five silent minutes, which both Mary and
Boller had improved gastronomically, when Wilkins entered.

"Beg pardon, Mr. Fry," said he. "A gentleman to see you."

"I can't see him," Anthony said quickly.

Wilkins smiled.

"But this gentleman's on his way up now, sir," he said. "He's one of
your friends, and the office allowed him to come up and merely 'phoned
that he was coming. It is Mr. Robert Vining, sir!"

Anthony shook his head.

"Well, I cannot see even Mr. Vining this morning," he said. "Say, when
he comes to the door, that--good gracious!"

This last being quite justified, because Mary, with one small shriek,
had bounded from her chair like a frightened fawn! The chair, toppling
over, bumped about the floor for a bit until Wilkins caught it, and
Mary, both hands clutched upon her bosom, stood poised for a full
second, eyes round and horrified, lips parted.

Then, as the lightning flashes, Mary had turned, and it seemed that she
floated through the air to the corridor and into the corridor and down
the corridor. In rather less than another second the door of the recent
David's chamber closed with a slam.

At the door the buzzer was buzzing.

"Will you see him, sir?" asked Wilkins.

"What? Yes," said Anthony. "Take away that chair and that extra plate
before you open the door."

Johnson Boller stood with lips pursed gravely until Wilkins was gone.

"Are you going to let him--er--know?"

"Hardly," said Anthony. "Although--I don't know. Bob's level-headed and
resourceful and reliable. Do you suppose it would be possible to--ask
his aid?"

"Think of the girl!" said Johnson Boller. "Think what----"

He stopped, for Mr.