Atlantic City has just begun. There, as everywhere in American society, you will be much more welcome if you come without brains.”

Reginald’s half-bantering tone reassured Ernest a little. Timidly he dared approach once more the strange event that had wrought such havoc with his nervous equilibrium.

“How do you account for my strange obsession — one might almost call it a mania?”

“If it could be accounted for it would not be strange.”

“Can you suggest no possible explanation?”

“Perhaps a stray leaf on my desk a few indications of the plot, a remark — who knows? Perhaps thought-matter is floating in the air. Perhaps — but we had better not talk of it now. It would needlessly excite you.”