"Allow me to head the procession upstairs.

The sooner we go up the sooner we shall come down." A little later they clustered about the cheerful open fireplace in the library.

Mabel, who was seated on a stool at one side of the fire, reached forward for the poker and prodded the half-burnt log energetically.

The others watched her in silence until she laid down the poker with a suddenness that caused them all to start, and turning about said almost brusquely: "I wish you girls to tell me frankly everything about Kathleen West.

Until that 'Larry, the Locksmith' story came out I hadn't the slightest idea that there was anything save the pleasantest relations between her and Grace.