"I thought I heard you come in," Michael said, lamely. "I was about to go to bed, sir. But is there anything I can do for you to-night--a cup of something to drink--coffee or tea?" "Not to-night, Mike," Charles answered. "The truth is that I am off for Springfield--on a little business of my own. I must get away at once. I may have to stay there a short while--several days, in fact, and I want to pack a few things. Pull out my dress-suit case from the closet, will you, and dust it off. Then put in half a dozen shirts and underwear." "Your evening suit, sir?" "No, oh no, not that," Charles smiled. "I'm not going into society on _this_ trip. I'll get out what I need." Taking the articles from a drawer of the bureau, Charles tossed them on the bed near the suitcase which the servant had brushed and opened. "Put them in, please, Mike. It will save time." The suitcase was packed and locked. Charles suddenly observed that Mike was eying the addressed envelope curiously. "Oh, that note?" the young man said, averting his eyes oddly. "That is for my brother. Will you hand it to him--not to-night, I mean--at the breakfast-table in the morning? Don't fail, Mike. It is rather important." The servant took it up. He held it tentatively. He hesitated. "He does not know that you are going, sir?" he asked. Charles stared straight at the floor. "This will tell him all that he need know, Mike." Putting the note into his pocket, Michael stolidly faced his companion. "Of course it does not concern me," he faltered, "but somehow you talk and act like--?" He went no further. "Oh, you are afraid I'm off on another spree, eh?" Charles laughed. "But I'm not, Mike. It is business, this time, and serious business at that." The servant was not satisfied, as was evident from his unsettled glances here and there, now on the young man's face, again on the suitcase or the floor. "You may have forgotten it, sir, but only the other day you spoke of wanting to go away for a long stay, and the little unpleasantness at your club and the police court--" "I see, I see, you don't forget things. You put two and two together," Charles interrupted. "What is that?" It was a child's startled scream from Mrs. Browne's room, followed by the assuring tones of the mother. "It is Ruth," Michael explained. "She screams out like that now and then when she is dreaming." "I wish I could see the little thing," Charles seemed to be speaking to himself now. "They are a beautiful pair--that mother and child. Ah, and they have been sweet and good to me!" "Now, I _am_ afraid, sir. Indeed, I am," Michael said, with feeling. "Afraid of what, Mike?" "I am afraid it is not Springfield you are going to, sir." "Ah, you are suspicious!" Charles said, in ill-assumed lightness. "I haven't known you from boyhood up for nothing, sir," Mike said, with emotion. "Ever since your talk Sunday I have been afraid you'd leave."