Fate moves in a mysterious way. Luck comes hand in hand withmisfortune. What we lose on the swings we make up on the roundabouts.

　　If Keggs had not seen twenty-five of his hard-earned dollars pass atone swoop into the clutches of the _croupier_ at the apparentlyuntenanted house on Forty-First Street, and become disgusted with thepleasing game of roulette, he might have delayed his return to thehouse on Fifth Avenue till a later hour; in which case he would havemissed the remarkable and stimulating spectacle of Kirk driving to thedoor in an automobile with Mamie at his side; of Mamie, jumping out andentering the house; of Mamie leaving the house with a suit-case; ofKirk helping her into the automobile, and of the automobiledisappearing with its interesting occupants up the avenue at a highrate of speed.

　　Having lost his money, as stated, and having returned home, he wasenabled to be a witness, the only witness, of these notable events, andhis breast was filled with a calm joy in consequence. This wassomething special. This was exclusive, a scoop. He looked forward tothe return of Mrs. Porter with an eagerness which, earlier in the day,he would have considered impossible. Somehow Ruth did not figure in hispicture of the delivery of the sensational news that Mr. Winfield hadeloped with the young person engaged to look after her son. Mrs.

　　Porter's was one of those characters which monopolize any stage onwhich they appear. Besides, Keggs disliked Mrs. Porter, and thepleasure of the prospect of giving her a shock left no room for otherthoughts.

　　It was nearly seven o'clock when Mrs. Porter reached the house. She wasa little tired from the journey, but in high good humour. She had had athoroughly satisfactory interview with her publishers--satisfactory,that is to say, to herself; the publishers had other views.

　　"Is Mrs. Winfield in?" she asked Keggs as he admitted her.

　　Ruth was always sympathetic about her guerrilla warfare with thepublishers. She looked forward to a cosy chat, in the course of whichshe would trace, step by step, the progress of the late campaign whichhad begun overnight and had culminated that morning in a sort ofGettysburg, from which she had emerged with her arms full of capturedflags and all the other trophies of conquest.

　　"No, madam," said Keggs. "Mrs. Winfield has not yet returned."Keggs was an artist in tragic narration. He did not give away hisclimax; he led up to it by degrees as slow as his audience wouldpermit.

　　"Returned? I did not know she intended to go away. Her yacht party isnext week, I understand.""Yes, madam.""Where has she gone?""To Tuxedo, madam.""Tuxedo?""Mrs. Winfield has just rung us up from there upon the telephone torequest that necessaries for an indefinite stay be despatched to her.

　　She is visiting Mrs. Bailey Bannister."If Mrs. Porter had been Steve, she would probably have said "For thelove of Mike!" at this point. Being herself, she merely repeated thebutler's last words.

　　"If I may be allowed to say so, madam, I think that there must havebeen trouble at Mrs. Bannister's. A telephone-call came from her veryearly this morning for Mrs. Winfield which caused Mrs. Winfield to riseand leave in a taximeter-cab in an extreme hurry. If I might be allowedto suggest it, it is probably a case of serious illness. Mrs. Winfieldwas looking very disturbed.""H'm!" said Mrs. Porter. The exclamation was one of disappointmentrather than of apprehension. Sudden illnesses at the Bailey home didnot stir her, but she was annoyed that her recital of the squelching ofthe publishers would have to wait.

　　She went upstairs. Her intention was to look in at the nursery andsatisfy herself that all was well with William Bannister. She had givenMamie specific instructions as to his care on her departure; but younever knew. Perhaps her keen eye might be able to detect some deviationfrom the rules she had laid down.

　　It detected one at once. The nursery was empty. According to schedule,the child should have been taking his bath.

　　She went downstairs again. Keggs was waiting in the hall. He hadforeseen this return. He had allowed her to go upstairs with his storybut half heard because that appealed to his artistic sense. This story,to his mind, was too good to be bolted at a sitting; it was the idealserial.

　　"Keggs.""Madam?""Where is Master William?""I fear I do not know, madam.""When did he go out? It is seven o'clock; he should have been in anhour ago.""I have been making inquiries, madam, and I regret to inform you thatnobody appears to have seen Master William all day.""What?""It not being my place to follow his movements, I was unaware of thisuntil quite recently, but from conversation with the other domestics, Ifind that he seems to have disappeared!""Disappeared?"A glow of enjoyment such as he had sometimes experienced when theticker at the Cadillac Hotel informed him that the man he had backed insome San Francisco fight had upset his opponent for the count began topermeate Keggs.

　　"Disappeared, madam," he repeated.

　　"Perhaps Mrs. Winfield took him with her to Tuxedo.""No, madam. Mrs. Winfield was alone. I was present when she droveaway.""Send Mamie to me at once," said Mrs. Porter.

　　Keggs could have whooped with delight had not such an action seemed tohim likely to prejudice his chances of retaining a good situation. Hecontented himself with wriggling ecstatically. "The young person is notin the house, madam.""Not in the house? What business has she to be out? Where is she?""I could not tell you, madam." Keggs paused, reluctant to deal thefinal blow, as a child lingers lovingly over the last lick of ice-creamin a cone. "I last saw her at about five o'clock, driving off with Mr.

　　Winfield in an automobile.""What!"Keggs was content. His climax had not missed fire. Its staggeringeffect was plain on the face of his hearer. For once Mrs. Porter'spoise had deserted her. Her one word had been a scream.

　　"She did not tell me her destination, madam," went on Keggs, making allthat could be made of what was left of the situation after its artisticfinish. "She came in and packed a suit-case and went out again andjoined Mr. Winfield in the automobile, and they drove off together."Mrs. Porter recovered herself. This was a matter which called forsilent meditation, not for chit-chat with a garrulous butler.

　　"That will do, Keggs.""Very good, madam."Keggs withdrew to his pantry, well pleased. He considered that he haddone himself justice as a raconteur. He had not spoiled a good story inthe telling.

　　Mrs. Porter went to her room and sat down to think. She was a woman ofaction, and she soon reached a decision.

　　The errant pair must be followed, and at once. Her great mind, playingover the situation like a searchlight, detected a connection betweenthis elopement and the disappearance of William Bannister. She had longsince marked Kirk down as a malcontent, and she now labelled the absentMamie as a snake in the grass who had feigned submission to her rule,while meditating all the time the theft of the child and the elopementwith Kirk. She had placed the same construction on Mamie's departurewith Kirk as had Mr. Penway, showing that it is not only great mindsthat think alike.

　　A latent conviction as to the immorality of all artists, which had beenone of the maxims of her late mother, sprang into life. She blamedherself for having allowed a nurse of such undeniable physicalattractions to become a member of the household. Mamie's very quietnessand apparent absence of bad qualities became additional evidenceagainst her now, Mrs. Porter arguing that these things indicated deepdeceitfulness. She told herself, what was not the case, that she hadnever trusted that girl.

　　But Lora Delane Porter was not a woman to waste time in retrospection.

　　She had not been in her room five minutes before her mind was made up.

　　It was improbable that Kirk and his guilty accomplice had sought sonear and obvious a haven as the studio, but it was undoubtedly therethat pursuit must begin. She knew nothing of his way of living at thatretreat, but she imagined that he must have appointed some successor toGeorge Pennicut as general factotum, and it might be that this personwould have information to impart.

　　The task of inducing him to impart it did not daunt Mrs. Porter. Shehad a just confidence in her powers of cross-examination.

　　She went to the telephone and called up the garage where Ruth'sautomobiles were housed. Her plan of action was now complete. If noinformation were forthcoming at the studio, she would endeavour to findout where Kirk had hired the car in which he had ta............