n ordered
not to answer questions about this case, for some reason that you may
know better than I do; and so I couldn't tell him much about it, but I
offered to ask for him. He wouldn't have that; said it was only a
passing inquiry,' and he laughed knowingly.

He had seen me when I came with the men who bore the guard upon a
stretcher, and felt that he might overstep the rules with safety.

'How is the fellow, anyhow?' he asked. 'They say he was one of us.'

'He is one of you,' I replied, 'and we hope to see him about at the
end of a week.'

* * * * *

Precisely how Carr or Lossing--I called him 'our guard' in those days,
by preference--precisely how he and June Jenrys met, I learned in
detail, but not until the glorious White City had faded in truth to a
dream city--a lovely vivid memory; but I had imagined the scene, even
before it took place, and I was glad to know that my 'imagination
machine,' to quote Dave, had not gone far wrong.

Miss Jenrys had accepted my proffered escort that morning, and, a
little to my surprise, I found that her aunt was not prepared to
accompany her. For the first time that little woman gave me a glimpse
of a strong foundation of that good sense that is not held in strictly
orthodox leash, the sturdy independence that accepts convention as a
servant but not as a mistress, that was hidden beneath that gentle,
yielding manner of hers.

'My niece is not a child,' she said to me, when the young lady had
left us to make ready for the walk to the hospital, 'and it is best
that she should go alone to-day for his sake. Thee must understand?' I
nodded, and she went on: 'June has told me the story, all of it, I
think, and there is something that should be explained; there is
error, at least, somewhere. It seems strange to be talking like this
to thee, but thee seems to have come so intimately into our lives of
late--besides, of course, I know that--having read that letter, which
June has let me read also--thee sees the position----'

'One moment,' I interrupted her; 'I have wanted to speak upon this
subject and have hesitated. Nine young women out of ten would have
deeply resented my reading of that letter.'

'But the circumstances----'

'I know. Still, I might have resisted the temptation to read on after
I had discovered your address, and although she grants the mitigating
circumstances, still she must resent, just a little, my knowledge of
its contents