Page:The Master of Mysteries (1912).djvu/505

 "And all of them complimentary?"

"Every one of them."

"How often do they come?"

"Every two or three days. Mrs. Stellery has been away visiting in Philadelphia the last three weeks, and they followed her down there. She brought back a whole lot of them to show to me."

"Did she show you the first one when it came?"

Mr. Stellery considered the question a little.

"No, not for some time; not till she had received several, in fact. At first she didn't want to worry me, she said; then she decided that I ought to know about them, anyway. Some of the first ones were left in the letter-box, but most of them have been sent through the mails."

"Does Mrs. Stellery seem to be much worried at receiving them?"

"Decidedly. Of course, it isn't as if they were as unpleasant as anonymous letters sometimes are. But she didn't want me to go to you about them, and thought that they'd stop coming after a while. In point of fact she hasn't had any this week; but I want to find out who's responsible for them; and, from what I've heard of you, you're the one to do it."

"I see." Astro let his chin fall into his palms and stared at the table in silence for some time.

Stellery walked up and down, examining the furnishings of the studio. He picked up a gold stiletto and fingered it, walked to the wall and looked at an antique bit of tapestry, smiled at Astro's white lizard in its cage, and returned to the Seer, who looked up to say:

"It's queer that a man who professes to admire her