him out of here!" Mary directed. "And do
it quickly!"

After all, the unlucky little coincidence was not nearly so serious as
she seemed to think. Anthony smiled quite calmly.

"He will not stay very long," said he, "and when he is ready to go I
will not detain him, of course. But I can't very well go in and order
him out, you know."

Mary, bosom heaving still, looked straight at him with burning eyes.

"Mr. Fry," she said solemnly, "I've always lived too much out doors and
boxed and shot and paddled and ridden too much to be given to hysterics.
The only time I ever had hysterics was the night they thought dad had
been killed--but _that_ night, once I started, the neighbors came out on
the street two blocks away to see what was the matter!"

"I don't understand?"

"You will," Mary said, controlling herself with visible difficulty.
"You've made me stand enough since last night, and there are some things
I cannot--some things I will not even try to stand! I tell you honestly
that if Bob isn't out of this flat in two minutes, I'm going into a fit
of hysterics that will have the reserves piling into this sanctified
hotel just as surely as the sun is shining!"

"Miss Mary----" faltered Anthony Fry.

Mary's hands clenched in the most peculiar manner.

"Hadn't you better make the best of those two minutes?" she asked
breathlessly.

His quiet smile was gone now; lines appeared in Anthony's countenance as
he looked at her--and then, wasting no further time in aimless comment,
he turned and tottered into the corridor. Mary meant just what she said.

Robert Vining and Johnson Boller were sprawling in the deep chairs,
opposite one another, smoking comfortably and giving every evidence of
having settled down for a considerable session. Young Mr. Vining grinned
through the smoke at his older friend.

"Sit down, Anthony," said he. "We're just going over the thing round by
round, to see if either of us can remember a worse fight for the money.
We're working on round two, just now."

Anthony smiled strangely and laid a dramatic hand upon his brow.

"I will not join the discussion," he said.

"Eh? What's the matter?" Robert asked, sitting up.

"Headache! One of the--er--headaches that make my life a burden!"
Anthony groaned.

"I never knew you had 'em," young Vining said with a mystified smile.

"Neither did I," Johnson Boller contributed healthfully.

"Did you have it before you talked to Wilkins, there?" pursued