"Your pardon, sir," said the butler before he closed the door, and With a nod of the head towards the street. "Your car--does it need attention, sir? Our garage is only half a block away. Shall I send out and tell your chauffeur, sir?" Ilingsworth's glance followed that of the butler's. A blue limousine stood throbbing at the curb. It had evidently been there all the while, though Ilingsworth had failed to observe it. "It's not my car," he returned brusquely. Again a puzzled look came over the servant's face, but concealing his embarrassment, he closed the door. "Very good, sir," he said. "Kindly step this way." Ilingsworth followed him down the long hall to the entrance of a room before which stood another servant. "Step into the reception-room, sir, if you please," said the butler. But, to the astonishment of both men, the footman advanced and waved them back, saying: "One moment, please, sir." And oblivious to the fact that Ilingsworth was standing in the middle of the broad hall, he drew the butler to one side, whispered in a confidential, off-duty aside: "You must not take him in there. Put him somewhere else." "Why not?" asked the butler. "Who's in there?" The footman became inexcusably mysterious. He looked about him on all sides to see that he was unheard. Then he shaded his mouth with his hand and placed his lips close to the other's ear. "Her," he whispered. The butler eyed the footman sharply. "Her!" he exclaimed. "Who's she?" "There's only one her," he answered, and pursed his lips as though about to perpetrate an explosion. And then it came: "Miss Braine, of course. Here's her card." The man who had admitted Giles Ilingsworth stiffened when he looked upon this card, which read: MISS MADELINE BRAINE The Llandegraff ----th Street and the Drive. "Not the governor's ...?" "The same." "What's she doing here?" For answer the footman merely shrugged his shoulders. "When did she come?" asked the butler. "Ten minutes or so ago." "But I didn't see her come." "I let her in; you were downstairs." The butler came as near to a whistle as any butler on duty ever came. What is more, in his agitation at this new and unexpected crisis, he quite forgot the presence of Giles Ilingsworth, vice-president of the largest trust company in the world. "There'll be the devil to pay if the missus sees her! Did she ask for----" "She came to see the governor," interrupted the footman, shaking his head; "and what's more, she says she's going to wait until he comes." The butler knitted his brows. "You were a fool to let her in! Is that her car outside?" "Don't you know it when you see it?" The mention of the car forced the butler's thoughts back to Ilingsworth. He started toward the financier of the Tri-State Company with abundant apology upon his lips.