Nichols stared at the detective. The soldier's eyes were like bayonets beneath a parapet. He had thought the figure rather high. Loris had no one to advise her save himself and the presence of Drew had tied his tongue. "I want to thank you," repeated Loris. Drew lowered his eyes and reached for the check. He glanced at it, started folding two edges, then smiled brightly as he crossed the room, picked up the mother-of-pearl penholder and dipped it into the ink. "I'll endorse it," he said, flattening out the check with his palm. "I'll endorse it so that it can be transferred." "To whom?" asked Loris. "Why, to where it belongs. Do you think that I could take it? It's too much in the first place. In the second place I'm going to do my full bit from now on. What do you say, if we endorse this over to the American Red Cross? It'll buy beds and bandages and it'll help out all around!" Loris lifted her eyes beneath her down dropping lashes. She smiled with tiny puckerings at the corners of her mouth. The glance was so archly sweet that Drew felt it was more than a reward. He caught her mood and hastily dashed off his signature across the back of the check. "You present it to them," he said. "Take it with my compliments to the treasurer of your own division. I'll venture they will not question the signature." Nichols' hand crept out. It clasped over Drew's fingers in a soldier's grip. The two men faced each other. Drew reached up his left arm and patted the captain on the shoulder. "Two bars," he said. "I hope to see stars there," he added sincerely. "Stars, when you come back from the conquest of Berlin." "They'll be there!" declared Loris with flashing eyes. "Harry will get them!" Delaney peered through the portières despite his instructions to the contrary. "All set, Chief," he said. "I hear Fosdick downstairs." "Coming," said Drew, as he turned away from Loris and Nichols. The two detectives paused in the center of the room. The mound under the splendid rug held their eyes for a fleeting moment. The ends of the telephone wires lay across the hardwood floor. They glanced at these. "No trace!" said Drew. "We needn't tell Fosdick much. Come on!" Delaney held out the detective's coat and hat. Drew thrust his arms into his silk-lined sleeves, pulled the hat down over his eyes and swung as the big operative turned his shoulder. "Look," whispered Delaney. Loris Stockbridge and her lover stood under the glow from the soft clusters of the inner room of the suite. The captain held his peaked cap in his right hand. He also was departing. "Turtle-doves," Delaney breathed with almost pride. "Ah!" said Drew. "Ah, my friend, you must remember that we were once that way ourselves. But now--but now, Delaney--there is a thing which is sweeter than love's young dream. It is a tired man's sleep. I think I have earned mine to-night!" THE END ZANE GREY'S NOVELS May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.