"You are wise to ask all your questions at once," said Le Brux. "You
know I shall talk just as I please. Your boy, just as you said he would,
has attacked me in the heart. He is a most entertaining babe. I am no
longer wet nurse. Somebody with the attributes has supplanted
me--Cellette."

"H--m--m!" said Leighton.

Le Brux held up a ponderous hand.

"Not too fast," he said. "The lady assures me the babe is still on the
bottle. Such being the case, I sent for you. They are inseparable. They
have put off falling in love so long that, when they do, it will prove a
catastrophe for one of them. Take him away for a while. Distort his
concentrated point of view."

"That's a good idea," said Leighton. "Perhaps I will."

"As for his work--" Le Brux stepped to the door and locked it. "I
wouldn't have him catch us looking at it for anything." He lifted the
damp cloth from Lewis's latest bit of modeling, two tense hands, long
fingers curved like talons, thumbs bent in. They flashed to the eye the
impression of terrific action.

Leighton gazed long at the hands.

"So," he said, "somewhere the boy has seen a murder."

"Ha!" cried Le Brux. "You see it? You see it? He has not troubled to put