“You see, the daughter isn't married yet, and we'd better protect the name until she's out of the way, anyhow. That girl can go to Europe and take her pick. She's good enough for any title. But if this came out it would hurt her chances.” “Mr. Wilton, I congratulate you,” was my remark. “I thought you would see the point,” he answered, with a smile. “I am thinking not of the point, but of your philanthropy. It is beautiful. Do you sleep well nights?” “Very,” he answered, with a quick glance into my eyes. “I should think that the troubles of the world would keep you awake.” His face flushed a little, and then he smiled. “You lawyers have no suspicion of the amount of goodness there is in the world--you're always looking for rascals,” he said. “But we have wandered. Let us take the nearest road to Rome. You say they must have money to-day.” “Before three o'clock.” “We'll give them ten thousand dollars--not a cent more. You must tell them to use it gently, for it's the last they'll get from us. To whom shall I draw the check?” “To me--Lysander Wilton,” he answered, with a look of relief. I gave him the check. He put on his coat and began to purr again; he was glad to know me, and rightly thought that he could turn some business my way. As he left my office I went to one of the front windows and took out my handkerchief. The fog-whistle blew a blast that swept sea and land with its echoes. In a moment I saw a certain clever, keen-eyed man who was studying current history under the direction of Prof. William J. Bums come out of a door opposite and walk at a leisurely pace down the main street of Pointview toward the station. He was now taking the first steps in a systematic effort to see what was in and behind the man Wilton. III.--IN WHICH A MAN IS SEEN HOLDING DOWN THE BUSHEL THAT HIDES HIS LIGHT THE first thing I desired was the history of Wilton. He knew more about us than we knew about him, and that didn't seem to be fair or even necessary. In fact, I felt sure that his little world would yield valuable knowledge if properly explored. I knew that there were lions and tigers in it. I learned that Wilton had proceeded forthwith to a certain apartment house on the upper west side of New York, in which he remained until dinner-time, when he came out with a well-dressed woman and drove in a cab to Martin's. The two spent a careless night, which ended at four a.m. in a gambling-house, where Wilton had lost nine hundred dollars. Next day, about noon, his well-dressed woman friend came out of the house and was trailed to a bank, where she cashed a check for five hundred dollars. We learned there that this woman was an actress and that her balance was about eighty-five hundred dollars. Three months passed, and I got no further news of the man, save that he had gone to Chicago and that our trailers had gone with him.