SPARKS FELL UPON THE SHOULDERS OF THE TWO WHITE FIGURES (page 9)

"I'M LAWYER ENOUGH TO KNOW," HE SAID, "THAT A QUESTION LIKE THAT IS
NOT PERMISSIBLE"

"OH, MASTER RECEIVE ME!"

"I KNEW THAT I WAS LOST"




CHAPTER I

THE FALLING STAR


I was genuinely tired when I got back to the office, that Wednesday
afternoon, for it had been a trying day--the last of the series of
trying days which had marked the progress of the Minturn case; and my
feeling of depression was increased by the fact that our victory had
not been nearly so complete as I had hoped it would be. Besides, there
was the heat; always, during the past ten days, there had been the
heat, unprecedented for June, with the thermometer climbing higher and
higher and breaking a new record every day.

As I threw off coat and hat and dropped into the chair before my desk,
I could see the heat-waves quivering up past the open windows from the
fiery street below. I turned away and closed my eyes, and tried to