“Oh, what can I do for you?” Bessie asked, when he returned.

“It’s what you can do for yourself that interests me——”

“But I must go with the Follies—if I win. It’s the career—the beginning!”

“If you must.”

“And when shall I see you?”

“Here to-morrow night—if you will.”

“Yes,” she said eagerly.

4

On the way to Lot & Company’s the next morning Bellair smiled at the sense of personal injustice which had returned to him. He held fast to a sort of philosophical calm, but permitted his energy to be excited by a peculiar blending of contempt and desire to wring the truth from Lot & Company at any price.