Immediately a brisk, boyish looking young man presented himself.

"Fuller," spoke Ashton-Kirk, "I want instant and complete information
upon one Hume, a local numismatist, and Allan Morris, consulting
engineer."

"Very well, sir." And Fuller turned at once, and left the room.




CHAPTER III

THE PORTRAITS OF GENERAL WAYNE


When Ashton-Kirk returned that evening from the theatre, where he had
gone to witness a much heralded new drama, he sat with a cigar, in his
library; and stretching out his length in great comfort, he smoked and
smiled and thought of what he had seen and heard.

"The drama as a medium of expression is necessarily limited," the
young man was saying to himself, "and of course, in fitting human
action to its narrow bounds, the dramatist is sometimes tempted to
ignore certain human elements. In spots, the people of the play acted
like puppets; upon seven different occasions, by actual count, the
entire matter would have been cleared up if someone had sharply spoken
his mind. But he did not, and the thing was allowed to become
hopelessly involved because of it."