"He's locked me and Perkins out of his rooms again, and wouldn't open the door only wide enough to stick this through. And his message"--hesitatingly--"he said just tell you you had better get these pajamas back where they came from just as quickly as you could--you would _if you were wise_, he said." "Oh!" I uttered, dazed by this new blow. So it _was_ her pajamas. But there was more of the message--I could see it in Wilkes' eye. "Yes, sir," he went on as I gave him a nod. "Mr. Billings called through the door-crack--and his voice was particularly shrill--screechy-like--very unnatural, sir--and he said: 'You tell him I say he'll find it very dangerous to keep them by him a moment; tell him my advice is to return them _immediately_!'" Here the butler hesitated an instant and added: "And he said for me to try to remember three letters I was to mention--said you would understand." "Three letters?" I repeated dully. "Yes, sir, three letters--I did remember 'em, too, because they happened to be the initials of a young woman I--h'm! Q. E. D., sir." "Q. E. D.?" I said, puzzled and miserable. "What's Q. E. D.?" And then an idea startled me. "Oh I _say_, you mean--er--P. D. Q.--eh, Wilkes?" It sounded like Jack! But he seemed sure he didn't; insisted on Q. E. D. When he had withdrawn, I sat there a moment, swallowing hard. By Jove, when a chap has had the hardest blow of his life, and that, too, from his best friend, it's devilish hard to come up smiling. I took a deep breath and tried to pull myself together. I knew, of course, it was all over--everything; it was all over, just as everything was beginning with me. For I knew my life never had been worth a whoop before. Why, by Jove, I never even noticed how beautiful were the trees and the sunshine through the leaves until the last two days! But I _had_ seen it, because _she_ had seen it! And now--now it was all dull and flat and dead again, and all the world was gray! Ever been there--eh? I climbed heavily to my feet, for I knew, after all, he was acting devilish considerately as _he_ saw things, and I must just have the decency to do as he said--and then go. I couldn't explain, of course. Mustn't try to do that--so dashed clumsy, I would only complicate it for her. No, I--By Jove, I suddenly felt sick. Sat there, doubled forward, my head between my hands, as the butler retired, softly closing the door behind him. Presently I pulled myself together. Jenkins, as he helped me dress, eyed me in a frightened way, his face kind of pale and greenish. Neither of us said a word, but I knew I had _his_ sympathy, poor fellow--and it helped! Then, with the parcel in my hand, I marched slowly down the stairs, forgetting even some instructions I should have given Jenkins.