VII

VII

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FOR A PERCEPTIBLE MOMENT of time he saw a light dawn and die in the dull eyes of the hall porter.

"Why, surely!" he said. "I think the doctor is dining here tonight, Mr. Reeder, and he'll be glad to see you."

He went to a telephone and pressed a knob.

"It's Mr. Reeder, doctor... Yeh? He just dropped in to see you."

What the man at the other end of the 'phone said—and he said it at some length—it was impossible to overhear, but Reeder saw the man step back a little so that he could look through the glass doors into the street outside.

"No, that's all right, doctor," he said. "Mr. Reeder is by himself. You haven't got a friend, Mr. Reeder? Maybe you'd like to invite him in?"

Mr. Reeder shook his head.

"I have no friend," he said sadly. "It's one of the tragedies of my life that I have……