"
"What is it, George?" asked Indiman, gravely.
"Not to-night, old chap. It may be a mistake--probably is. Or say
that I was kidding you."
"That won't do, George. You've said both too much and too little.
Cab there!" he called, and a hansom drew up to the curb.
"You'll excuse me, Thorp--a family affair." He motioned to the boy
to enter; he obeyed, sulkily enough, and they drove off.
VII
The Opal Button
Now, as a matter of fact, I had no part in the affair of the opal
button; for on the very next day following our meeting with Estes I
came down with typhoid and spent the next two months in the
hospital. I saw little of Indiman during that time, but his seeming
neglect was fully explained by the story he told me the night I was
well enough to get back to 4020 Madison Avenue.
"You remember, of course," began Indiman, "that I went off with
Estes that May evening with just an apology to you about a family
affair. Really, I knew nothing; but the boy's manner struck me as
peculiar, and, while the incident of the opal button was trifling
in itself, I was sure that there was something behind it. But when
I plumped the question squarely at Estes he had nothing to say
except that the jewel had been slipped into his hand while he stood
looking into a shop-window.
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