no-account things, at least for the present," said Hillard,
with an enigmatical smile. He sought his watch. "Make up your mind at
once; we have only twenty minutes."

"Oh, divine afflatus! And you lay down the chase so readily as this?"
Merrihew was scornfully indignant.

"I would travel the breadth of the continent were I sure of meeting this
woman. But she has become a will-o'-the-wisp, and I am too old and like
comfort too well to pursue impossibilities."

"But why did she leave you that mask?" demanded Merrihew. "She must have
meant something by that."

"True, but for the life of me I can't figure out what, unless she wished
to leave with me the last page of the adventure."

"But I don't like the idea of leaving Kitty this way, without a final
effort to rescue her from the clutches of this fascinating adventuress.
For you must admit that she is naught else."

"I admit nothing, my boy, save that the keenness of the chase is gone."
Hillard balanced his watch idly. "As for Kitty, she's a worldly little
woman, and can take good care of herself. She is not likely to blunder
into any serious conspiracy. Her letter should be sufficient."

"But it isn't. A woman's 'don't' often means 'do.' If Kitty really
expects me to search for her and I do not, she will never believe in me
again."

"Perhaps your knowledge of women is more extensive than mine," said
Hillard, without the least irony.

But this flattery did not appeal to Merrihew. "Bosh! There's something
you haven't told me about that makes you so indifferent."

This was a shrewd guess, but Hillard had his reasons for not letting his
friend see how close he had shot. "A lady? Grace of Mary, that is
droll!" He could not cast this out of his thought. He floated between
this phrase and Mrs. Sandford's frank defense of her girlhood friend.
Perhaps he was lacking in some particle of chivalry; perhaps he was not
in love at all. And of what use to offer faith to one who refused it?

"Time flies," he warned. "Which is it to be?"

"We'll go on to Venice. It would be folly for me to continue the hunt
alone. And if you went with me, your half-heartedness would be a damper.
We'll go on to Venice."

"Have you any cigars left?" smiling.

"I have thrown away the boxes and filled my pockets."

"That's better. But the Italians are not so severe as the French. We
shan't have any trouble recrossing into Italy. All aboard, then."

Merrihew solemnly directed the porter to pa