I had never suspected that Mrs.
Fyne had taken the trouble to distinguish in me the signs of sagacity or folly.

The few words we had exchanged last night in the excitement--or the bother--of the girl's disappearance, were the first moderately significant words which had ever passed between us.

I had felt myself always to be in Mrs.Fyne's view her husband's chess-player and nothing else--a convenience--almost an implement.
"I am highly flattered," I said.

"I have always heard that there are no limits to feminine intuition; and now I am half inclined to believe it is so.

But still I fail to see in what way my sagacity, practical or otherwise, can be of any service to Mrs.Fyne.