At eleven o'clock I returned to my rooms to pack a case and have the thing off my mind. Tramping restlessly up and down before my bachelor apartment house I discerned M'sieu Zhames. His face was pale and troubled, but the angle of his jaw told me that he had determined upon something or other.
"Ha!" I said railingly. He wore a decently respectable suit of ready-made clothes. "Lost your job and want me to give you a recommendation?"
"I want a few words with you, Chuck, and no fooling. Don't say that you can't spare the time. You've simply got to."
"With whom am I to talk, James, the groom, or Warburton, the gentleman?"
"You are to talk with the man whose sister you are to marry."
I became curious, naturally. "No police affair?"
"No, it's not the police. I can very well go to a lawyer, but I desire absolute secrecy. Let us go up to your rooms at once."
I led the way. I was beginning to desire to know what all this meant.
"Has anybody recognized you?" I asked, unlocking the door to my apartment.
"No; and I shouldn't care a hang if they had."