"Of course," said Quinny with a shrug of his shoulders, "the story is well invented, but the turn to it is very nice--very nice indeed." "I did know the story," said Steingall, to be disagreeable; "the ending, though, is too obvious to be invented. The visitor should have had on him not another coin, but something absolutely different, something destructive, say, of a woman's reputation, and a great tragedy should have been threatened by the casual misplacing of the coin." "I have heard the same story told in a dozen different ways," said Rankin. "It has happened a hundred times. It must be continually happening," said Steingall. "I know one extraordinary instance," said Peters, who up to the present, secure in his climax, had waited with a professional smile until the big guns had been silenced. "In fact, the most extraordinary instance of this sort I have ever heard." "Peters, you little rascal," said Quinny with a sidelong glance, "I perceive you have quietly been letting us dress the stage for you." "It is not a story that will please every one," said Peters, to whet their appetite. "Why not?" "Because you will want to know what no one can ever know." "It has no conclusion then?" "Yes and no. As far as it concerns a woman, quite the most remarkable woman I have ever met, the story is complete. As for the rest, it is what it is, because it is one example where literature can do nothing better than record." "Do I know the woman?" asked De Gollyer, who flattered himself on passing through every class of society. "Possibly, but no more than any one else." "An actress?" "What she has been in the past I don't know--a promoter would better describe her. Undoubtedly she has been behind the scenes in many an untold intrigue of the business world. A very feminine woman, and yet, as you shall see, with an unusual instantaneous masculine power of decision." "Peters," said Quinny, waving a warning finger, "you are destroying your story. Your preface will bring an anticlimax." "You shall judge," said Peters, who waited until his audience was in strained attention before opening his story. "The names are, of course, disguises."