The house was like a thousand other houses of the prosperous middle
class, distinguishable only by minor differences of doors and steps and
area rails, from twenty others on the same block. He found himself
making mystery even of this. Separate houses in New York require
incomes.

"Evidently it pays to deal in spooks," he said to himself.

His first glimpse of the interior, his subsequent study of the
drawing-room while the maid carried in his name, made more vivid this
impression. The taste of the whole thing was evident; but the apartment
had besides a special flavor. He searched for the elements which gave
that impression. It was not the old walnut furniture, ample, huge,
upholstered in a wine-colored velours which had faded just enough to
take off the curse; it was not the three or four passable old
paintings. The real cause came first to him upon the contemplation of a
wonderful Buddhist priest-robe which adorned the wall just where the
drawing-room met the curtains of the little rear alcove-library. The
difference lay in the ornaments--Oriental, mostly East Indian and, all
his experience told him, got by intimate association with the
Orientals. That robe, that hanging lantern, those chased swords, that
gem of a carved Buddha--they came not from the seaports nor from the
shops for tourists. Whoever collected them knew the East and its
peoples by intimate living. They appeared like presents, not
purchases--unless they were loot.

And now--his thumping heart flashed the signal--the delicate feminine
flutter that meant Annette, was sounding in the hall. And now at the
entrance stood Annette in a white dress, her neck showing a faint rim