orry
to be about to lose it. "I am determined you shall know where I am
going," she said in a moment. "I am going to Florence."

"Don't be afraid!" he replied. "I shall go to Rome."

"And you'll carry there more impertinence than has been seen there since
the old emperors."

"Were the emperors impertinent, in addition to their other vices? I am
determined, on my side, that you shall know what I have come for,"
Ransom said. "I wouldn't ask you if I could ask any one else; but I am
very hard pressed, and I don't know who can help me."

Mrs. Luna turned on him a face of the frankest derision. "Help you? Do
you remember the last time I asked you to help me?"

"That evening at Mrs. Burrage's? Surely I wasn't wanting then; I
remember urging on your acceptance a chair, so that you might stand on
it, to see and to hear."

"To see and to hear what, please? Your disgusting infatuation!"

"It's just about that I want to speak to you," Ransom pursued. "As you
already know all about it, you have no new shock to receive, and I
therefore venture to ask you----"

"Where tickets for her lecture to-night can be obtained? Is it possible
she hasn't sent you one?"

"I assure you I didn't come to Boston to hear it," said Ransom, with a
sadness which Mrs. Luna evidently regarded as a refinement of outrage.
"What I should like to ascertain is where Miss Tarrant may be found at
the present moment."

"And do you think that's a delicate inquiry to make of _me_?"

"I don't see why it shouldn't be, but I know you don't think it is, and
that is why, as I say, I mention the matter to you only because I can
imagine absolutely no one else who is in a position to assist me. I have
been to the house of Miss Tarrant's parents, in Cambridge, but it is
closed and empty, destitute of any sign of life. I went there first, on
arriving this morning, and rang at this door only when my journey to
Monadnoc Place had proved fruitless. Your sister's servant told me that
Miss Tarrant was not staying here, but she added that Mrs. Luna was. No
doubt you won't be pleased at having been spoken of as a sort of
equivalent; and I didn't say to myself--or to the servant--that you
would do as well; I only reflected that I could at least try you. I
didn't even ask for Miss Chancellor, as I am sure she would give me no
information whatever."

Mrs. Luna listened to this candid account of the young man's proceedings
with her head turned a little over her shoulder a