CHAPTER

I   uncle john’s duty
II   A question of “Pull”
III   Diana
IV   the three nieces
V   preparing for the plunge
VI   the fly in the broth
VII   the Hero enters and trouble begins
VIII   opening the campaign
IX   the Von Taer pearls
X   misled
XI   limousine
XII   Fogerty
XIII   Diana revolts
XIV   A cool encounter
XV   A bewildering experience
XVI   Madame Cerise, custodian
XVII   the mystery deepens
XVIII   A Rift in the Clouds
XIX   politic repentance
XX   A telephone call
XXI   the unexpected happens
XXII   gone
XXIII   the crisis
XXIV   A matter of course

CHAPTER I

UNCLE JOHN’S DUTY

“You’re not doing your duty by those girls, John Merrick!”

The gentleman at whom this assertion was flung in a rather angry tone did not answer his sister-in-law.  He sat gazing reflectively at the pattern in the rug and seemed neither startled nor annoyed.  Mrs. Merrick, a pink-cheeked middle-aged lady attired in an elaborate morning gown, knitted her brows severely as she regarded the chubby little man opposite; then, suddenly remembering that the wrinkles might leave their dreadful mark on her carefully rolled and massaged features, she banished them with a pass of her ringed hand and sighed dismally.

“It would not have mattered especially had the poor children been left in their original condition of friendless poverty,” she said.  “They were then like a million other girls, content to struggle for a respectable livelihood and a doubtful position in the lower stratas of social communion.  But you interfered.  You came into their lives abruptly, appearing from those horrid Western wilds with an amazing accumulation of money and a demand that your three nieces become your special protegees.  And what is the result?”

The little man looked up with a charming smile of good humored raillery.  His keen gray eyes sparkled as mischievously as a schoolboy’s.  Softly he rubbed the palms of his hands together, as if enjoying the situation.

“What is it, Martha, my dear?  What is the result?” he asked.

“You’ve raised them from their lowly condition to a sphere in which they reign as queens, the envy of all who know them.  You’ve lavished your millions upon them unsparingly; they are not only presumptive heiresses but already possessed of independent fortunes.  Ah, you think you’ve been generous to these girls; don’t you, John Merrick?” “Go on, Martha; go on.”

“You’ve taken them abroad—­you took my own daughter, John Merrick, and left me at home!—­you’ve lugged your three nieces to the mountains and carried them to the seashore.  You even encouraged them to enlist in an unseemly campaign to elect that young imbecile, Kenneth Forbes, and—­”

“Oh, Martha, Martha!  Get to the point, if you can.  I’m going, presently.”