very prettily.

"Certainly," said I too surprised to say anything else. "Is--is there
anything else?"

"Nothing, thank you," she replied. Then: "Good night, Mr. Smart. You
are very good."

"Don't forget to-morrow--"

But the oblong aperture disappeared with a sharp click, and I found
myself staring at the blank, sphynx-like wall.

Taking up my pad, my pipe and my pencil, and leaving all of my cherished
ideas out there in the cruel darkness, never to be recovered,--at least
not in their original form,--I scrambled through the window, painfully
scraping my knee in passing,--just in time to escape the deluge.

I am sure I should have enjoyed a terrific drenching if she had chosen
to subject me to it.



CHAPTER IV

I BECOME AN ANCESTOR

True to the promise she had extracted from me, I laid off my workmen
the next morning. They trooped in bright and early, considerably
augmented by fresh recruits who came to share the benefits of my