r colour had changed and changed again, from
red to pale. But I made no pause, telling how I had seen him in
conversation with the little brunette, and what he had told me of that
conversation, and then I described the adventure of the previous
night.

When I had reached the point where I had offered my card and he had
refused to give me a false name, I saw her eyes glow and her head lift
itself unconsciously; when I described him in converse with the wily
brunette, a slight frown crossed her face, and her little foot tapped
an impatient tattoo quite unconsciously; when I pictured him as
following the two women toward the Wooded Island, her head was lifted
again and her lip curled scornfully. But when I had reached the point
where the two figures, springing suddenly from the darkness behind
him, had hurled him over the parapet into the deepest part of the
lagoon, a low moan burst from her lips, and she put out her hands
entreatingly.

'Was he----Quick! tell me!'

'He was rescued, unconscious but living, by two of the emergency crew
who guard the lagoons by night, who, luckily, were lying in their
skiff under the shadow of the bridge engaged in watching the
mysterious movements of the very men who were lurking behind the big
pedestal on the other side of the pier, awaiting the signal from the
women, their confederates. In going over, his head was quite seriously
hurt. At first it was thought that he had struck the edge of the boat
in falling, but the doctor says it was a blow from some blunt
instrument with a rounded end--some manner of club, no doubt.'

'And now--how--is he?' she faltered.

'In very good hands, and doing as well as can be expected. I was not
allowed to see him, and he does not seem fully conscious, although the
doctor says he may recover if all goes well.'

'Where is he?' Her face was very pale, but there was a change in her
voice, a sudden firmness, and a total lack of hesitancy.

'At the Emergency Hospital in the Fair grounds.' I had purposely made
his case as serious as I consistently could, and I now made the
important plunge. 'Miss Jenrys, I have taken a great interest in this
young man from the first. He is a fine fellow, and now, added to this
personal liking, is the duty I owe this helpless young man, who
evidently has an enemy, and that enemy seemingly the very person who
has been dogging you so persistently and so mysteriously. You see the
strangeness of the complication. Are you will