And that—good story as it was—was all the Enquirer printed, for it was all that I finally got from Lanagan just before the clock struck two.

Leslie, standing by the telephone, said, tentatively and curiously, when the receiver was hung up:

“What about the real story? Saving that for to-morrow?”

“No, Chief,” drawled Lanagan, full brother in the Fourth Estate. “No, Chief, that’s all the story. She’s dead, isn’t she? They have had about enough trouble, this family.”


V
THE AMBASSADOR’S STICK-PIN