as a flesh-and-blood girl, noted the
red in her olive cheeks, the fire in her dark eyes, and realized that
her interest in that package of money might be something more than
another queer quirk in the tangle of events.

She smiled a friendly smile at Magee, and took the chair he offered. One
small slipper beat a discreet tattoo on the polished floor of Baldpate's
office. Again she suggested to Billy Magee a house of wealth and warmth
and luxury, a house where Arnold Bennett and the post-impressionists are
often discussed, a house the head of which becomes purple and apoplectic
at the mention of Colonel Roosevelt's name.

"Last night, Mr. Magee," she said, "I told you frankly why I had come to
Baldpate Inn. You were good enough to say that you would help me if you
could. The time has come when you can, I think."

"Yes?" answered Magee. His heart sank. What now?

"I must confess that I spied this morning," she went on. "It was rude of
me, perhaps. But I think almost anything is excusable under the
circumstances, don't you? I witnessed a scene in the hall above--Mr.
Magee, I know who has the two hundred thousand dollars!"

"You know?" cried Magee. His heart gave a great bound. At last! And
then--he stopped. "I'm afraid I must ask you not to tell me," he added
sadly.

The girl looked at him in wonder. She was of a type common in Magee's
world--delicate, finely-reared, sensitive. True, in her pride and
haughtiness she suggested the snow-capped heights of the eternal hills.
But at sight of those feminine heights Billy Magee had always been one
to seize his alpenstock in a more determined grip, and climb. Witness
his attentions to the supurb Helen Faulkner. He had a moment of
faltering. Here was a girl who at least did not doubt him, who ascribed
to him the virtues of a gentleman, who was glad to trust in him. Should
he transfer his allegiance? No, he could hardly do that now.

"You ask me not to tell you," repeated the girl slowly.

"That demands an explanation," replied Billy Magee. "I want you to
understand--to be certain that I would delight to help you if I could.
But the fact is that before you came I gave my word to secure the
package you speak of for--another woman. I can not break my promise to
her."

"I see," she answered. Her tone was cool.

"I'm very sorry," Magee went on. "But as a matter of fact, I seem to be
of very little service to any one. Just now I would give a great deal to
have the information