“What are we ruining our eyes with to-night?” he demanded.

I held up the treasure.

“'Victory,'” he read. “Good! He'll like Conrad.”

Perceiving what was expected, I fulfilled the requirements by asking: “Who will like Conrad?”

“The Gnome.”

I remembered that I had not seen Leon Coventry since the day he passed me with the girl who had youth and spring and terror in her face.

“Am I to loan it to him?”

“You're to read it to him.”

“When?”

“To-night. It's your turn to sit up.”