"Oh, yes," she answered, carelessly; "we are all right, dad. Goodbye." "We? Who the devil is 'We'?" "Mr. Vanderdynk and I. We're taking my maid and coming down to Tuxedo this evening together. I'm in a hurry now." "What!!!" "Oh, it's all right, dad. Here, Killian, please explain things to my father." Vanderdynk released her hand and picked up the receiver as though it had been a live wire. "Is that you, Mr. Carr?" he began--stopped short, and stood listening, rigid, bewildered, turning redder and redder as her father's fluency increased. Then, without a word, he hooked up the receiver. "Is it all right?" she asked calmly. "Was dad--vivacious?" The young man said: "I'd rather go back into that elevator than go to Tuxedo.... But--I'm going." "So am I," said Bushwyck Carr's daughter, dropping both hands on her lover's shoulders.... "Was he really very--vivid?" "Very." The telephone again rang furiously. He bent his head; she lifted her face and he kissed her. After a while the racket of the telephone annoyed them, and they slowly moved away out of hearing. VIII "IN HEAVEN AND EARTH" _The Green Mouse Stirs_ "I've been waiting half an hour for you," observed Smith, dryly, as Beekman Brown appeared at the subway station, suitcase in hand. "It was a most extraordinary thing that detained me," said Brown, laughing, and edging his way into the ticket line behind his friend where he could talk to him across his shoulder; "I was just leaving the office, Smithy, when Snuyder came in with a card." "Oh, all right--of course, if----" "No, it was not a client; I must be honest with you." "Then you had a terrible cheek to keep me here waiting." "It was a girl," said Beekman Brown. Smith cast a cold glance back at him over his left shoulder. "What kind of a girl?" "A most extraordinary girl. She came on--on a matter----" "Was it business or a touch?" "Not exactly business." "Ornamental girl?" demanded Smith. "Yes--exceedingly; but it wasn't that---- "Oh, it was not that which kept you talking to her half an hour while I've sat suffocating in this accursed subway!" "No, Smith; her undeniably attractive features and her--ah--winning personality had nothing whatever to do with it. Buy the tickets and I'll tell you all about it." Smith bought two tickets. A north bound train roared into the station. The young men stepped aboard, seated themselves, depositing their suitcases at their feet. "Now what about that winning-looker who really didn't interest you?" suggested Smith in tones made slightly acid by memory of his half hour waiting. "Smith, it was a most unusual episode. I was just leaving the office to keep my appointment with you when Snuyder came in with a card----" "You've said that already." "But I didn't tell you what was on that card, did I?" "I can guess."