“The Glow-worm was pulling at my skirts to come down, but I listened a moment longer.  The Senor said he must have done Dictator Jaffier an injustice all these years in considering him the stupidest of men.  The other replied that ‘four nights more’ would tell the story; that it was irksome to wait even that long.  I had to leave, for the Senora was becoming frenzied, but I caught one more remark from Senor Rey, as mysterious as the rest. ‘But he’ll be gone before that,’ he said.”

“What an astonishing bit of work!” Bedient exclaimed.

“We reached the quarters from which we came—­the orange lamplight room—­in safety, but the Glow-worm’s face was livid with fear.  I suppose mine was, too.  She said the whole house was so arranged....  I told her they were not playing cards, and something of what I had heard.  The Glow-worm was sure they were talking about ’a young man, known to be one of the mainstays of the government,’ who had come to stay at The Pleiad—­for some incomprehensible reason.  Evidently, she has not seen you....  What do you suppose Rey meant by, ’He’ll be gone before that,’—­within four days?”

“I don’t appear able to learn anything by myself,” Bedient said.  “It would seem the best way—­to wait and see.”

“Oh, but I wouldn’t—­please!...  Is it worth that to see this Framtree, whom the Spaniard has probably commanded to keep in hiding?  I am afraid—­for you!...  And the whole house, even the sleeping-rooms, are under that devilish eye.  I dared not turn on the light last night——­”

They parted after less than twenty minutes.  Bedient did not go in to dinner....  To him, the night was but a sorry repetition.  Miss Mallory’s disclosures could not long hold his thoughts.  He had no intention of telling Jaffier that something big was to happen within four days.  What was strangest was the fate which made it so hard for him to come into contact with Framtree.  He could not give up this thing—­this last link to reality.  He felt himself better off here—­than alone at the hacienda.

This time, between two and three in the morning, he was so tense and animate that he heard the soft, swift tread of a Chinese in the hall and the faintest possible rustle of a paper thrust under his door.  He waited a moment before turning on the light....  It was another missive from the Spaniard, and read: 

     MY ESTEEMED BEDIENT: 

The request herein to be set forth may appear to you as a reflection upon the quality of my friendship, as it certainly is an indication of the force of your personality.  You are felt in this establishment, my valued friend, like some tarrying Nemesis.  Permit me to observe, and I am smiling as I write, that you have a wearing effect upon many of my guests.  Personally, I should ask nothing finer of the Fates than the privilege to devote myself exclusively to you—­but that is impossible now.  To-morrow at noon my servants will assist you to any quarters elsewhere, that you may have chosen by that time—­if, indeed, you are staying longer in Coral City.  Believe me, when a certain tension is lifted, my house will be open to you again, as is always the heart of

CELESTINO REY.