"Well, what is it?" he asked quietly.
For answer, I got out the cablegram and passed it across to him. He read it with brows contracted.
"That seems to put a puncture in our little romance, doesn't it?" I asked, at last.
He nodded thoughtfully.
"Yes, it does," and he read the message again, word by word.
"Armand's man hasn't called yet?"
"No, I didn't get the message till about three o'clock. I suppose he'll be around to-morrow."
"You will have to turn the cabinet over to him, of course?"
"Why, yes, it belongs to him. At least, it doesn't belong to
Vantine."
He slipped the message into its envelope and handed it back to me. I could see that he was perplexed and upset.
"Well, in spite of this," he said finally, "I am still interested in that cabinet, Lester, and I wish you would keep possession of it as long as you can. At least, I wouldn't give it up until he delivered to you the other cabinet which Vantine really bought."