Miss Richlander's laugh was well restrained. She seemed to be struggling earnestly to make it appear so. "You business gentlemen are so funny!" she commented. "You know, of course, Mr. Kinzie, that _this_ Mr. Smith and I are old friends; you've probably seen us together enough to be sure of that. Hasn't it occurred to you that however well I might know the Mr. Smith my father has written you about, I should hardly care to be seen in public with him?" "Then there are two of them?" Kinzie demanded. The young woman was laughing again. "Would that be so very wonderful?--with so many Smiths in the world?" "But--er--the middle name, Miss Richlander: _that_ isn't so infern--so very common, I'm sure." "It is rather remarkable, isn't it? But there are a good many Montagues in our part of the world, too. The man my father wrote you about always signed himself 'J. Montague', as if he were a little ashamed of the 'John'." "Then this Brewster Smith isn't the one who is wanted in Lawrenceville for embezzlement and attempted murder?" "Excuse me," said the beauty, with another very palpable attempt to smother her amusement. "If you could only know this other Smith; the one my father wrote you about, and the one he thinks you were asking about: they are not the least bit alike. J. Montague, as I remember him, was a typical society man; a dancing man who was the pet of the younger girls--and of their mothers, for that matter; you know what I mean--the kind of man who wears dress clothes even when he dines alone, and who wouldn't let his beard grow overnight for a king's ransom. But wait a moment. There is a young gentleman here who came last evening direct from Lawrenceville. Let me send for him." She rose and pressed the bell-push, and when the floor boy came, he was sent to the lobby to page Jibbey. During the little wait, David Kinzie was skilfully made to talk about other things. Jibbey was easily found, as it appeared, and he came at once. Miss Richlander did the honors graciously. "Mr. Kinzie, this is Mr. Tucker Jibbey, the son of one of our Lawrenceville bankers. Tucker--Mr. Kinzie; the president of the Brewster City National." Then, before Kinzie could begin: "Tucker, I've sent for you in self-defense. You know both Mr. John Smith, at present of Brewster, and also J. Montague Smith, sometime of Lawrenceville and now of goodness only knows where. Mr. Kinzie is trying to make out that they are one and the same." Jibbey laughed broadly. He stood in no awe of banks, bankers, or stubbly mustaches. "I'll tell John, when I see him again--and take a chance on being able to run faster than he can," he chuckled. "Ripping good joke!" "Then you know both men?" said Kinzie, glancing at his watch and rising.