Mr. Hepplewhite stood rubbing his delicate hands in front of the fire, telling himself what a really great pleasure it was to have Mrs. Witherspoon staying with him over the week-end.  He was having a dinner party for her that evening—­of forty-eight.  All that it had been necessary for him to do to have the party was to tell Mr. Sadducee, his secretary, that he wished to have it and direct him to send the invitations from List Number One and then to tell Bibby the same thing and to order the chef to serve Dinner Number Four—­only to have Johannisberger Cabinet instead of Niersteiner.

All these things were highly important to Mr. Hepplewhite, for upon the absolute smoothness with which tea and dinner were served and the accuracy with which his valet selected socks to match his tie his entire happiness, to say nothing of his peace of mind, depended.  His daily life consisted of a series of subdued and nicely adjusted social events.  They were forecast for months ahead.  Nothing was ever done on the spur of the moment at Mr. Hepplewhite’s.  He could tell to within a couple of seconds just exactly what was going to occur during the balance of the day, the remainder of Mrs. Witherspoon’s stay and the rest of the month.  It would have upset him very much not to know exactly what was going to happen, for he was a meticulously careful host and being a creature of habit the unexpected was apt to agitate him extremely.

So now as he stood rubbing his hands it was in the absolute certainty that in just a few more seconds one of the footmen would appear between the tapestry portieres bearing aloft a silver tray with the tea things, and then Bibby would come in with the paper, and presently Mrs. Witherspoon would come down and she would make tea for him and they would talk about tea, and Aiken, and whether the Abner Fullertons were going to get a domestic or foreign divorce, and how his bridge was these days.  It would be very nice, and he rubbed his hands very gently and waited for the Dresden clock to strike five in the subdued and decorous way that it had.  But he did not hear it strike.

Instead a shriek rang out from the hall above, followed by yells and feet pounding down the stairs.  Mr. Hepplewhite turned cold and something hard rose up in his throat.  His sight dimmed.  And then Bibby burst in, pale and with protruding eyes.

“There was a man in the guest room!” he gasped.  “Stockin’s got him.  What shall we do?”

At that moment Mrs. Witherspoon followed.

“Oh, Mr. Hepplewhite!  Oh, Mr. Hepplewhite!” she gasped, staggering toward him.

Mr. Hepplewhite would have taken her in his arms and attempted to comfort her only it was not done in Mr. Hepplewhite’s set unless under extreme provocation.  So he pressed an armchair upon her; or, rather, pressed her into an armchair; and leaned against the bookcase feeling very faint.  He was extremely agitated.

“S-send for the police!  S-s-send for B-burk!” he stuttered.  Burk was a husky watchman who also acted as a personal guard for Mr. Hepplewhite.