o him directly from there."

"But you can't do that," interposed Sadie in a voice that thrilled
with alarm.

"But I am going to do that," cried Helen, her face aflame and her head
held high. "And now we must go--I'd no idea we'd stayed so long.
Good-by and thank you."

She had taken a step toward the entrance to the hallway when Gladwin
strode forward.

"You didn't say good-by to me," he said in an injured tone. Then with
a sudden vehemence: "But I am glad you didn't, for we are going to
meet again."

"I suppose we shall if you are here when I return," she said coldly
and without looking at him.

"When you return?" he said, in quick surprise.

"Yes, when I come back here to-night," in the same disdainful,
snubbing tones.

"You're going to meet Travers here to-night?" he queried, in palpable
unbelief.

"Yes, I am. He wanted me to meet him at the station, but I insisted on
coming here."

"And what time was it Travers wanted you to meet him here? I'd almost
forgotten."

"At half-past ten," answered Helen, taken off her guard and submitting
unconsciously to his cross-examination.

"Oh, yes, at half-past ten," he repeated. "That's right."

"But you," pointedly addressing Barnes, "must tell him I may be
late."

"I will," acquiesced Barnes, a trifle bewildered.

"I hope you will be very late," cut in Gladwin.

"What do you mean?" she caught him up.

"I mean you have no idea what a mad thing you are going to do."

"Please"----she began icily.

"Don't be angry," he pleaded. "I'm saying this for your good."

"I don't care to hear it."

"But you've got to hear it," he cried. "To leave your aunt and run off
with a man you hardly know--why you must be mad even to think of it."

"How dare you speak to me in this way?"

If ever a young lady's fur was up, as the saying is, such was the case
with the enraged Helen Burton. If her eyes had been weapons to slay,
Travers Gladwin would have been annihilated at a glance. But he stuck
doggedly to his guns.

"Well, somebody ought to speak to you," he ran on. "Can't you
understand that this man is no good--that he must be a scoundrel to
ask you to do such a thing, that"----

"Stop! I forbid you to say any more--to say such horrible, cowardly
things about him behind his back. You, who claimed to be his dearest
friend."

Her anger was suddenly checked by a thought that flashed in her mind.

"Only a few minutes ago you said you were glad I was going to marry
M