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"I tell you I can wring Desht," repeated Mortimer sullenly "It isn't a case of 'want to,' either; it's a case of 'got to' That old pink-and-white rabbit, Belwether, got ame this afternoon, and between him and Voucher and Alderdine I'm stripped clean as a kennel bone"

But Plank shook his head, pretending to yawn; and Morti, presently went off, his swollen hands thrust into his trousers' pockets, his gross features dark with disgust; and presently they heard the front door sla tattoo of horses' feet on the asphalt; and Leila sprang up ie to the s of the front room

"He's taken the horses--the beast!" she said calreat s and looked out into the night, where the round, drooping, flower-like globes of the electric lamps spread a lake of silver before the house

It was rather rough on Leila The Mortiiven them at all hours resulted in endless scenes, and an utter impossibility for Leila to retain the same coachman and footman for more than a feeeks at a time

"He won't co in front of Delht You'd better call up the stables, Beverly"

So Plank called up a livery and arranged for transportation at one; and Leila seated herself at a card-table and began to deal herself cold decks, thoughtfully

"That bit in 'Cars the shudder; it never palls on rows stale" She whipped the ominous spade from the pack and held it out "La Mort!" she exclai through it, sounding, too, in her following laugh "Draw!" she co out the pack; and Plank drew a dia the pack with her s them out as she repeated the formula: "Qui frappe? Qui entre? Qui prend chaise? Qui parle? Oh, the deuce! it's always the same! Tiens! je m'ennui!" There was a flash of her bare arm, a flutter, and the cards fell in a shower over them both

Plank flipped a card fro uncertainly, aware of symptoms in his pretty vis-à-vis which always made him uncomfortable For months, now, at certain intervals, these recurrent syht portend he did not know, only that, alone with her, moments occurred when he was heavily aware of a tension which, after a while, affected even his few thick nerves One of those intervals was threatening now: her flushed cheeks, her feverish activity with her hands, the unconscious reflex movement of her silken knees and restless slippers, all foreboded it Next would corae he was unequal to; and then the hint of weariness, the curious pathos of long silences, the burnt-out beauty of her eyes froh quenched by invisible tears within