The colonel paused. A babel of ejaculations and questions broke out. Something seemed to attract Miss Beddingfeld’s attention, and she turned in her chair. At the little gasp she gave, I, too, turned.

My new secretary, Rayburn, was standing in the doorway. Under his tan, his face had the pallor of one who has seen a ghost. Evidently Race’s story had moved him profoundly.

Suddenly conscious of our scrutiny, he turned abruptly and disappeared.

“Do you know who that is?” asked Anne Beddingfeld abruptly.

“That’s my other secretary,” I explained. “ Mr. Rayburn. He’s been seedy up to now.”

She toyed with the bread by her plate.

“Has he been your secretary long?”