His attention was caught by the flush of anger on Constantine’s face. The Armenian emphasized his comment with a passionate thump of his clenched fist on the table. Steindal, if the fat man were the recipient of those flattering letters, seemed to be expostulating. After some argument, in which Constantine was apparently brought round to the other’s view, the olive-skinned person stretched out a pulpy hand for a code book, which he consulted, and framed a message. And now, for the first time to his adult knowledge, Karl _purposely changed his position_ without interrupting his sight of events in the least degree. That is to say, his experiments of the two previous nights had the aspect of a very vivid dream, but, on this occasion, he acted as if he had the power of physical movement. When he saw Maggie Hutchinson at Manhattan Beach he endeavored to “stoop” over the hotel table, and also to “step off” the veranda on to the grass lawn beyond, but he succeeded in neither instance. To-day, except that his body was in Oxford, he fancied he had complete liberty of movement in New York. So he passed behind Constantine’s companion, looked over his shoulder, and read what he had written. The words “Margaret Hutchinson” stood out clearly from a jumble of nonsense. Karl had never used a code, and the meaningless nature of the script puzzled him until he saw that the writer had jotted down sentences opposite each word on a separate sheet of paper. Perusal of this key soon made the message coherent. It read: “Meet the _Merlin_ on arrival at Liverpool on the 10th inst. Offer Miss Margaret Hutchinson star concert at St. James’s Hall in my name, and promise her prolonged engagement on good terms for exclusive contract, Steindal.” There was an evil leer on Steindal’s face when he read the draft to Constantine, and the unpleasant smile with which the latter showed his curt approval warned Grier that an ulterior purpose lay behind an offer which, under ordinary circumstances, should prove very acceptable to any girl at the outset of a professional career. Karl was eager to learn more of the compact into which these two had entered, but, strive as he might, he could only distinguish certain faint, quick, vibrating noises which had a vague resemblance to taps on a cymbal. He did not realize, until later, that he was, even then, extending his range of hearing, and the sounds he caught were the clanging bells of the street-cars! Steindal summoned an assistant, gave him the cablegram, with instructions, and Constantine and he, donning dust-coats, descended to the street. It was a perfect joy to Karl to discover that he could accompany them. They were taken down by an elevator--which smacks of Cork though it is pure American--and passed out into the street. And then Karl Grier’s sixth sense took its first ride on a Broadway car! Being on the up-town track it was crowded with the latest flight of business people.