iss Jenrys, without question or demur, her promise
not to hold communication with the brunette, at least by letter, and
to avoid if possible a meeting until I should be able to enlighten her
more fully.

'I do not want to lose sight of her,' I said, in scant explanation,
'and it seems that we can best keep our hold through her pursuit of
you; but I would rather lose sight of her altogether and begin it all
over again than let one line in your handwriting go into such
hands'--I avoided those false pronouns 'her' and 'she' when I
could--'and hope and trust you may be spared another interview.
Please take this upon trust, Miss Jenrys, and you too, Miss Ross, and
believe that I will not keep you in the dark one moment longer than is
needful.'

They assured me of their willingness to wait, even in the face of what
Miss Jenrys laughingly described as a devouring curiosity; and then,
while she turned the talk upon the Fair and some of its wonders, Miss
Ross, murmuring a word of polite excuse, took up my paper from the
place where it had fallen from my hands.

'Thee will allow me--I have not seen our morning paper.'

'Oh, Aunt Ann, I had entirely forgotten it!' cried her niece
contritely.

'It is not important, child,' replied the smiling Quakeress. 'There is
very little in it now except the Fair, and that we can better read at
first hand.'

Nevertheless, she began to turn the pages and to scan here and there
through her dainty gold-framed spectacles, while Miss Jenrys began to
interrogate me concerning the mysteries of Midway Plaisance.

'We hear such very contradictory stories, and I do not want to miss
any feature of the foreign show worth seeing,' she said, with an arch
little nod and smile across to her aunt, 'nor does Aunt Ann; and I
don't quite feel like bearding all those Midway lions unguarded,
unguided, and--unadvised.'

I was not slow to offer my own individual services, in such an earnest
manner that, after a little hesitation and the assurance that it would
not only not conflict with my 'business engagements,' but would afford
an especial pleasure, inasmuch as I had not yet 'done' the Plaisance
in any thorough manner, she finally accepted my proffered services for
her aunt and herself, adding at last:

'To be perfectly honest, Mr. Masters, I know Aunt Ann will never enter
that alarming, fascinating Ferris Wheel without an escort whom she can
trust should we lose our heads and want to jump out one hundre