He reached up and turned on the electric bulb that hung above his head; then he drew his feet up under him after the fashion of a Turk and waited, calmly.

The padded steps swiftly approached his door; a sharp knock sounded on the panels.

“Well?” demanded the young man.

“There is an urgent call, sir,” came the voice of Stumph—­“on the telephone.  It’s the lady who called yesterday—­Miss Vale.”

Ashton-Kirk slipped from the bed; a step brought him to the door, which he threw open.

“Very well, Stumph,” said he, quietly.  “You may go back to bed.”

The grave-faced German went stolidly down the hall; the young man pulled on a pair of felt slippers; in the library he put the detached receiver to his ear and spoke evenly: 

“Well, Miss Vale?”

There was a small, gasping exclamation from the wire, a sort of breath-catching flutter of sound such as a person might utter who had been running hard.  Then Edyth Vale, her voice shaking and filled with fear, said: 

“Oh!  Is that you!  I’m glad—­glad!”

“Get a firm grip on yourself,” advised Ashton-Kirk.  “If anything has happened we can no doubt remedy it.”

There came a series of moaning sobs across the wire; the girl had evidently broken down and was crying.  Ashton-Kirk said nothing; he waited patiently.  Finally she spoke once more.

“What has happened can never be remedied.”  Then her voice sank so low that he could scarcely catch the breathless words.  “There has been murder done.”

The investigator felt the blood prickle beneath his skin.  However, his voice was steady as he replied; his calmly working mind shook off the fear which she so strongly suggested.

“Who has been murdered?” he asked.

“The man whom I told you about yesterday—­the numismatist, Hume.”

“Ah!” Ashton-Kirk drew in a long breath and his eyes began to glow.  There was an instant’s pause, then he said:  “The hour is rather unconventional; but if you will receive me, I’ll have you tell me about this matter privately and at once.”

“By all means,” she answered, eagerly.  “I was about to beg of you to come.”

“In a half hour,” said he, briefly.  “Good-by.”

He hung up the receiver and touched one of the buttons.  When Stumph came, he said: 

“Turn the cold water into my bath.  Then order the car in haste.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Afterwards you can lay out a rough suit, heavy shoes and a soft hat.”

“Instantly, sir.”

Within twenty minutes Ashton-Kirk ran down the steps and sprang into the powerful looking car that awaited him; and well within the half hour he rang the bell at the marble palace built by the steel magnate during the last years of his life.  A heavy-eyed man servant admitted him with astonished resentment.  Miss Vale, looking very tall and very pale, met him in the hall.  But for all her pallor she seemed quite collected, even smiling.