listening, and so long had he been at it that it is doubtful if he could
have cocked it the other way without snapping something in his neck. That
right ear of his was open for business twenty-four hours out of the day.
The rest of his body may have slept as soundly as any man's, but his ear
was always awake, on land or sea. It was his boast that he had never had a
vacation.

Braden, after his long ride down Fifth Avenue on the stage, found Wade in
the hall.

"Is my grandfather in the library, Wade?" he asked, surprised to find the
man at the foot of the stairs, quite a distance from his accustomed post.

"He is, sir," said Wade. "He asked me to wait here until you arrived and
then to go upstairs for a little while, sir. I fancy he has something to
say to you in private." Which was a naïve way of explaining that Mr.
Thorpe did not want him to have his ear cocked in the hall during the
conversation that was to be resumed after an advisable interval. Observing
the strange pallor in the young man's usually ruddy face, he solicitously
added: "Shall I get you a glass of—ahem!—spirits, sir? A snack of brandy
is a handy thing to—"

"No, thank you, Wade. You forget that I am a doctor. I never take
medicine," said Braden, forcing a smile.

"A very good idea, sir," said Wade.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Tresslyn had reported to Anne, in the cosy little boudoir
at the top of the house in the Seventies.