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Involuntarily his distended eyes wandered to his wife's locked and bolted door; then he thought of Beverly Plank, and his own failure to fasten himself upon that anxiously over-cordial individual with his houses and his villas and his yachts and his investhts in his roolimmer came from his wife's bed-chamber He listened; the maid was still there; so he sat down in the darkness to wait; and by-and-by he heard the outer bedroo hts, he moved ponderously and jauntily to his wife's door and knocked discreetly

Leila Mortimer caht, her pretty figure outlined under a cascade of clinging lace

"What is theto-morrow?"

"I wanted to chat with you"

"I' to Wenniston, after breakfast, with Beverly Plank, and I need sleep"

"I want to talk to you," he repeated doggedly

She regarded hiesture, turned away into her room; and he followed, heavily apprehensive but resolved

She had seated herself a a pile of cushions, one knee crossed over the other, her slim white foot half concealed by the silken toe of her slipper And as he pulled a chair forward for himself, her pretty black eyes, which slanted a little, took his measure and divined trouble

"Leila," he said, "why can't we have--"

"A cigarette?" she interrupted, indicating her dainty case on the table

He took one, savagely aware of defiance sohted her own fro the sequence of blue s

"About this h sheer self-n of caution, which subdued his voice instantly "Why can't we take hiether, Leila?" he ended laht concern hi him up," observed his wife serenely "I can do what may be useful to hiht to be seen--"

"I can e everything," he insisted sullenly "There are chances of various sorts--"

"Investht malice

"See here, Leila, you have your oay too much I say little; I make damned few observations; but I could, if I cared to … It becomes you to be civil at least I want to talk over this Plank matter with you; I want you to listen, too"