st face that cheerfully; our reward
would be all the greater when it came.

That John would be unwilling to give up Lucy even when he knew that she
loved someone else never occurred to us. He belonged to that class of
men whose code is to give the women all the best of everything. He was
too fond of Lucy to wish to see her hurt. And if he wouldn't give her
a divorce, hurt she would be, for in that unlikely event we were
determined to jump on the nearest steamer and sail away for parts
unknown.

"Why not come in?" said Lucy, when we had finished our ride. "You
haven't been near the house for days, so it won't be very noticeable."

"All right," I said, "for a minute."

It was between dusk and dark. The lights had not been turned on in the
hall. The opportunity seemed rare and sweet. We stood for one brief
fleeting moment closely enlaced--and swiftly separated, and stood
breathing fast, and listening.

Lucy was the first to make up her mind.

She stepped swiftly to the dining-room door and flung it open. She was
in time to see the trim shoulders and white cap of a servant
disappearing from the dining-room into the pantry.

"Who was it?"

"My new waitress."

"Hilda?"

Lucy smiled grimly. "She'll leave tomorrow."

"Don't discharge her. She might tell. Perhaps she didn't see."

I joined Lucy in the dining-room, closed the door, knelt and looked
back into the hall through the keyhole.

"Could she see?"

I rose to my feet and nodded.

"He mustn't hear from anyone but me," said Lucy. "I'll speak to her."

But Hilda was not in the pantry.

"I don't think she'll tell," I said, "and after all what does it
matter? Let's take a chance."

Mentally I resolved to communicate with Hilda at the earliest possible
moment, and to use whatever influence I had upon her. So I was no
sooner in my room at home than I took the receiver from my private
telephone and gave the number of the Fultons' house. After an interval
I heard Hilda's voice.

"It's Mr. Mannering, Hilda."

"Yes, sir."

"I want to see you about something important."

"I know."

So she knew, did she?

"Can you meet me at ten o'clock tonight?"

"Where?"

"Leave the house at ten sharp, and walk toward the town; I'll be
watching for you. You'll come?"

"Yes, sir."

XXV

Near the Fultons, fronting on the street, is a large overgrown yard
that has never been built on. Here in the shadow of a great cedar tree
I waited and