His mind worked logically enough for a man under observation for insanity, and his sense of humor acted as a safety-valve for his inventiveness. He merely drew his chair very close to the startled old lady and opened a magazine. He found a poem and began to read it in the exasperating undertone used by the demons who have the next seats to yours at the opera. Presently he began to drum on his thigh with the tips of his fingers, and at regular intervals of ten seconds he thumped it with his clenched fist bass-drumwise. Every twenty-five seconds he pulled out his watch, looked at it, exclaimed, “Gracious!”--and blew his nose loudly and determinedly. Within two and three-quarter minutes the old lady glared at him, rose, looked at the clock, glared again at him to make sure, and left the room. In the hall she stopped and spoke to the young lady who checked hats and coats near the entrance of the main dining-room. “I had to leave the reading-room. A perfectly horrible person came in! He simply drove me out.” “Yes, madam. He is insane. It is a very sad case.” “Goodness! What a narrow--“. “Oh, he is quite harmless, madam.” “It's a wonder a first-class hotel, like this claims to be, allows--” “You are right!” agreed the wise young woman, whose business was to encourage generosity. The old lady went away, muttering. Thomas Thome Merriwether sat down in the vacated chair, put his hat between his knees, and waited. The mahogany clock on the mantel presently began to chime the hour and Tom felt a pang of angry disappointment. Nothing had happened--except that he again had made an ass of himself! A tall, strongly built man at that moment entered the room, looked at Tom, saw the hat held between the knees, and turned away as if the last person in the world he wished to see was young Mr. Merriwether. Tom saw him stretch his hand toward a panel in the wall. Instantly the room was in darkness. It occurred to Tom that this would be a good way to attack him; but there instantly followed the reflection that it was not a good place in which to do any robbing or murdering. Therefore young Merriwether sat on quietly. He felt something drop into his hat. A faint odor of sweet peas came to his nostrils--the odor he had associated with his youth until he began to associate it with her, and therefore with love. This evanescent perfume that made vague memories stir within him--that made him desire to see the woman who was to be his wife--that made him thrill obediently at the call of adventure--made him feel that the mysterious man of 777 Fifth Avenue was not a cheap charlatan. Suddenly the light was turned on again. Tom saw a slip of paper within his hat, fished it out, and, without stopping to see what it was or what it said, rushed from the room into the corridor.