Marcella,” said Macgowan heavily. “No, I haven’t. Good morning, Miss Temple.”

Good morning,” she murmured without looking up. The white skin of her throat was no longer white, but scarlet.

Marcella’s out somewhere. Should be back soon. Always gadding about somewhere, ‘Cella,” chattered Kirk, moving about restlessly. “Well, well, Queen! Something new? Another inquisition?”

Ellery sat down and adjusted his pince-nez in a sober, judicial manner. “I’ve a rather serious question to ask you, Kirk.”

Jo rose swiftly. “I think you men want to be alone. If you’ll excuse me, please?”

Question?” echoed Kirk. His face had gone gray.

Miss Temple,” said Ellery in a grave tone, “I think you had better remain.”

Without a word she reseated herself.

What kind of question?” asked Kirk, licking his lips. Macgowan was standing by one of the windows, staring motionlessly out, his broad back a silent baffled barrier.

Why,” said Ellery in a clear voice, “did you instruct a dealer named Avdo Varjian to sell your friend Glenn Macgowan a local stamp rarity of the city of Foochow?”

The tall young man sank into a chair and without looking at any of them said in a cracked voice: “Because I was a fool.”

Scarcely an informative reply,” said Ellery dryly. And then his eyes narrowed, and he was shocked to observe the expression on Miss Temple’s elfin face. Her pretty candid features were drawn up in a grimace of the most remarkable amazement; she looked quite as if she could not believe her ears. And she was staring at her host with enormous eyes.

Glenn,” said Kirk in a mutter.

Macgowan did not turn from the window. He said hoarsely: “Well?”

I didn’t think you’d find out. It wasn’t important. There was the stamp, and I knew that you?Hell, Glenn, I’d rather have had you get it than any one else in the world. You know that.”

Macgowan wheeled like a tired horse, his eyes stony. “And the fact that it’s backwards didn’t occur to you, I suppose,” he said bitterly.

Tch, tch,” said Ellery mildly. “Let me handle this, Macgowan. Kirk! Your business affairs are your own concern, and what subtle little nuances may arise from the peculiar nature of the affair are probably none of my business. But the Foochow happens to be an inverted object, you see?something with that persistent and puzzling backwards significance again. And that is my business.”

“Backwards,” murmured Miss Temple, putting her hand to her mouth and staring at Donald Kirk still.

Ellery could have sworn he saw horror in Donald’s eyes. Was it assumed? He glanced sharply at Macgowan. But the big man had turned back to the window again, and there was something angry and stubborn in the set of his shoulders.

But I didn’t?” began Kirk, and stopped dazedly.

You see,” drawled Ellery, “you have two things to explain, old chap: why you sold the Foochow stamp at this time and in such a surreptitious manner, and where you got it in the first place.”

There was silence as Hubbell stamped across the foyer, darting one unguarded curious glance into the salon as he passed.

Then Kirk said: “I suppose it has to come out,” dully, quite without hope. “And that’s why I said I acted like a fool. I couldn’t have expected?” He buried his face in his hands momentarily, and a wonderful softness came over Miss Temple’s face, as she watched his boyish despair. He looked up, haggard. “Glenn knows something of my condition. It isn’t what you’d think, seeing this establishment, the way we live. This goes for you, too, Jo. Perhaps I should have told you . . . I’m in rather a tight spot financially at the moment, you see.”

Miss Temple said nothing.

Oh,” said Ellery. Then he said cheerfully: “Well! That’s scarcely an uncommon state of affairs these hectic days, Kirk. The Mandarin is shaky?”

It’s bad enough: Credits, collections, bookstores going out of business by the score . . . .” Donald shook his head. “We have a terrific amount of money outstanding. For a long time now I’ve been feeding the business cash, in a desperate attempt to save it. Berne’s broke, of course; I don’t know where he spends his money, but he never has any. Things can’t go on this way; business must get better, and when it does we’ll pull out all right, because we’ve got a solid list, thanks chiefly to Berne’s genius for picking winners.

But meanwhile?” He shook his shoulders in a curious bodily expression of despair.

But the stamp,” said Ellery gently.

I’ve been forced to turn a few items from my collection recently into cash. That’s how it came about that?”

Macgowan turned about and said in metallic tones: “I see all that, Donald, but what I still don’t see is why you sold it under cover that way, putting me in the rotten position of seeming to have . . . Why didn’t you come to me, Donald, for God’s sake?”

Again?” said the young man laconically.

Macgowan bit his lip. “There was no necessity of?saying that, Donald. I didn’t mean to?”

VBut there is.” Kirk rose and faced them tensely. “For some time, Queen?since I’ve got to clear my conscience and get the record straight?I’ve been touching Glenn for money. Substantial loans, you understand. Father’s no money of his own; he doesn’t know . . . I haven’t wanted to bother him about?well, about the mess I’m in. My own fortune has dwindled to the point where it’s impossible for me to raise any more cash. The bulk of it is tied up in frozen assets. They’re quite the most Arctic assets in the world, I suspect.” He grinned without humor. “So?I’ve been borrowing from Glenn, who’s been more than generous. There’s nothing wrong in that, although I’ve wished a thousand times that I hadn’t been forced to do it. Of course, Glenn has known about my fix all along . . . . But the drain’s terribly severe, Queen?terribly. And suddenly I needed a lot of cash again?for various things.” His eyes were half-closed. “The most valuable stamp in my collection was the Foochow, strangely enough. I felt that I couldn’t offer it to Glenn openly for cash when I already owed him so much, and it was the cash I needed. So I used Varjian to sell it to Glenn under cover, since I really wanted him to have it if I couldn’t. That’s all.”

He sat down very abruptly. Miss Temple was studying him with the strangest, serenest, softest interest.

Macgowan muttered: “I see it now, Don. I’m sorry about?But how about the fact,” he cried, “that the Foochow illustrates one of those damned backwards significances of Queen’s, Donald? Didn’t it occur to you that by making me buy the stamp at this time you were laying me open to all sorts of nasty accusations?”

Donald raised red-rimmed eyes. “Glenn, I give you my word . . . . It never occurred to me. Not for an instant. Oh, lord, Glenn, do you really think I’d have done that deliberately? Maliciously? You can’t think that. Or you, Queen. It wasn’t until you mentioned it that I realized . . . “

He slumped back, exhausted. Macgowan hesitated, his face a study in conflicting emotions, and then went to Kirk and thumped his shoulder and growled: “Forget it, Don. It’s I who’s been the fool. I’ve been a chump throughout. Forget it. You know if there’s anything I can do?”

Hmm,” said Ellery. “And now that that’s settled, Kirk, how about the second of my queries?”

Second?” asked Kirk, blinking.

Yes. Where did you get the stamp in the first place?”

Oh!” said the young man instantly. “I bought it. A long time ago.”

From whom?”

Some dealer or other. I’ve forgotten.”

Liar,” said Ellery amiably, and he cupped his hands over a

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