t the curing point," he said.

"Oh, no, it hasn't. I have discovered the remedy and I've brought it
with me." She took a sealed envelope from the inside pocket of her
driving-coat and laid it on the desk before him. "I'm going to ask you
to lock that up in your office safe for a little while, just as it is,"
she went on. "If there are no signs of improvement in the sick situation
by three o'clock, you are to open it--you and Mr. Griswold--and read the
contents. Then you will know exactly what to do, and how to go about
it."

Her lip was trembling when she got through, and he saw it.

"What have you done, Margery?" he asked gently. "If it is something that
hurts you----"

"Don't!" she pleaded; "you mu-mustn't break my nerve just at the time
when I'm going to need every shred of it. Do as I say, and please,
_please_ don't ask any questions!"

She was going then, but he got before her and shut the door and put his
back against it.

"I don't know what you have done, but I can guess," he said, lost now to
everything save the intoxicating joy of the barrier-breakers. "You have
a heart of gold, Margery, and I----"

"Please don't," she said, trying to stop him; but he would not listen.

"No; before that envelope is opened, before I can possibly know what it
contains, I'm going to ask you one question in spite of your
prohibition; and I'm going to ask it now because, afterward, I may
not--you may not--that is, perhaps it won't be possible for me to ask,
or for you to listen. I love you, Margery; I----"

She was looking up at him with the faintest shadow of a smile
lurking in the depths of the alluring eyes. And her lips were no
longer tremulous when she said: "Oh, no, you don't; I know just how
you feel; you are excited, and--and impulsive, and there's a sort of
getting-ready-to-be-grateful feeling roaming around in you, and all
that. If I were as mean as some people think I am, I might take
advantage of all this, mightn't I? But I sha'n't. Won't you open the
door and let me go? It's _very_ important."

"Heavens, Margery! don't make a joke of it!" he burst out. "Can't you
see that I mean it? Girl, girl, I want you--I need you!"

This time she laughed outright. Then she grew suddenly grave.

"My dear friend, you don't know what you are saying. The gate that you
are trying to break down opens upon nothing but misery and wretchedness.
If I loved you as a woman ought to love her lover, for your sake and
for my own I s