that it was probably
in the cabin beyond the bridge, but not to be alarmed if he did not
immediately return with it. Kitty, not without audible mirth, assured
him that they should not be alarmed at all, to which the voice of
Hortense supplemented, "Not at all." They were evidently in a boat,
which Hortense herself was rowing, and which she seemed to bring to
the bank, where I gathered that Kitty got out and sat while Hortense
remained in the boat. There was the little talk and movement which goes
with borrowing of a cigarette, a little exclamation about not falling
out, accompanied by the rattle of a displaced oar, and then stillness,
and the smell of tobacco smoke.

Presently Kitty spoke. "Charley will be back to-night."

To this I heard no reply.

"What did his telegram say?" Kitty inquired, after another silence.

"It's all right." This was Hortense. Her slow, rich murmur was as
deliberate as always.

"Mr. Bohm knew it would be," said Kitty. "He said it wouldn't take five
minutes' talk from Charley to get a contract worth double what they were
going to accept."

After this, nothing came to me for several minutes, save the odor of the
cigarettes.

Of course there was now but one proper course for me, namely, to utter a
discreet cough, and thus warn them that some one was within earshot. But
I didn't! I couldn't! Strength failed, curiosity won, my baser nature
triumphed here, and I deliberately remained lying quiet and hidden.
It was the act of no gentleman, you will say. Well, it was; and I must
simply confess to it, hoping that I am not the only gentleman in the
world who has, on occasion, fallen beneath himself.

"Hortense Rieppe," began Kitty, "what do you intend to say to my brother
after what he has done about those phosphates?"

"He is always so kind," murmured Hortense.

"Well, you know what it means."

"Means?"

"If you persist in this folly, you'll drop out."

Hortense chose another line of speculation. "I wonder why your brother
is so sure of me?"

"Charley is a set man. And I've never seen him so set on anything as on
you, Hortense Rieppe."

"He is always so kind," murmured Hortense again.

"He's a man you'll always know just where to find," declared Kitty.
"Charley is safe. He'll never take you by surprise, never fly out, never
do what other people don't do, never make any one stare at him by the
way he looks, or the way he acts, or anything he says, or--or--why, how
you can hesitate