weet girl
graduate's--the cheeks of a man who had always prided himself he was the
unmoved cynic in any situation.

With no thought for Mr. Bland, bound in his uneasy chair, Mr. Magee
hurried up the broad staircase of Baldpate. Now came the most gorgeous
scene of all. A fair-haired lady; a knight she had sent forth to battle;
the knight returned. "You asked me to bring you this, my lady." Business
of surprise and joy on the lady's part--business also, perhaps, of
adoration for the knight.

At the right of the stairs lay seventeen and the lady, at the left a
supposedly uninhabited land. As Mr. Magee reached the second floor,
blithely picturing the scene in which he was to play so satisfactory a
part--he paused. For half-way down the corridor to the left an open door
threw a faint light into the hall, and in that light stood a woman he
had never seen before. In this order came Mr. Magee's impressions of
her, fur-coated, tall, dark, handsome, with the haughty manner of one
engaging a chauffeur.

"I beg your pardon," she said, "but are you by any chance Mr. Magee?"

The knight leaned weakly against the wall and tried to think.

"I--I am," he managed to say.

"I'm so glad I've found you," replied the girl. It seemed to the dazed
Magee that her dark eyes were not overly happy. "I can not ask you in,
I'm afraid. I do not know the custom on such an occasion--does anybody?
I am alone with my maid. Hal Bentley, when I wrote to him for a key to
this place, told me of your being here, and said that I was to put
myself under your protection."

Mr. Magee arranged a bow, most of which was lost in the dark.

"Delighted, I'm sure," he murmured.

"I shall try not to impose on you," she went on. "The whole affair is so
unusual as to be almost absurd. But Mr. Bentley said that you were--very
kind. He said I might trust you. I am in great trouble. I have come here
to get something--and I haven't the least idea how to proceed. I came
because I must have it--so much depends on it."

Prophetically Mr. Magee clutched in his pocket the package for which he
had done battle.

"I may be too late." The girl's eyes grew wide. "That would be terribly
unfortunate. I do not wish you to be injured serving me--" She lowered
her voice. "But if there is any way in which you can help me in--in this
difficulty--I can never be grateful enough. Down-stairs in the safe
there is, I believe, a package containing a large sum of money."

Mr. Magee's h