Brewster has suddenly popped up through a trap and is out in the lobby now. And what's still more weird, he's apparently bucked."
"Sare?"
"Braced, you know. In the pink. Pleased about something. If you go to him now with that yarn of yours, you can't fail. He'll kiss you on both cheeks and give you his bank-roll and collar-stud. Charge along and ask the head-waiter if you can have ten minutes off."
Salvatore vanished in search of the potentate named, and Archie returned to the lobby to bask in the unwonted sunshine.
"Well, well, well, what!" he said. "I thought you were at Brookport."
"I came up this morning to meet a friend of mine," replied Mr. Brewster genially. "Professor Binstead."
"Don't think I know him."
"Very interesting man," said Mr. Brewster, still with the same uncanny amiability. "He's a dabbler in a good many things—science, phrenology, antiques. I asked him to bid for me at a sale yesterday. There was a little china figure"
Archie's jaw fell.
"China figure?" he stammered feebly.
"Yes. The companion to one you may have noticed on my mantelpiece upstairs. I have been trying to get the pair of them for years. I should never have heard of this one if it had not been for that valet of mine, Parker. Very good of him to let me know of it, considering I had fired him. Ah, here is Binstead." He moved to greet the small, middle-aged man with the tortoiseshell-
