ors are! And has she no companion but Mr.
Bradford?"

"She hasn't any companion at all. She doesn't even know that the man
driving the machine is Reggie. He thought that, going very slowly, as he
promised to do, to avoid all chances of accident, they might arrive by
eleven."

"And Dorothea was to be alone here with you two men?"

"Well, you see, we are to be married as soon as she arrives. We go
straight from here to the clergyman's house; he's waiting for us; in ten
minutes' time I shall be her husband; and then everything will be all
right."

"How cleverly you've arranged it!"

"I had to make my arrangements pretty close," Carli explained, in a tone
of pride. "There were a good many difficulties to overcome, but I did
it. Dorothea has had no trouble at all, and will have none; that is", he
added, with a sigh, at the recollection of what Diane had just said, "as
far as getting down here is concerned. She went to tea at the Belfords',
and on coming out she found a motor waiting for her at the door. She
walked into it without asking questions and sat down; and that's all.
She doesn't know whose motor it is, or where she's going, except that
she is being taken toward me. I provided her with everything. She's got
nothing to do but sit still till she gets here, when she will be married
almost before she knows she has arrived."

"It's certainly most romantic; and if one has to do such things, they
couldn't be done better."

"Well, one has to--sometimes."

"Yes; so I see."

"What do you suppose Derek Pruyn will say?" he asked, after a brief
pause.

"I haven't the least idea what he'll say--in these circumstances. Of
course, I always knew--But there's no use speaking about that now."

"Speaking about what now?" he asked, sharply.

"Oh, nothing! One must be with Mr. Pruyn constantly--live in his
house--to understand him. You can always count on his being kinder than
he seems at first, or on the surface. During the last months I was with
Dorothea I could see plainly enough that in the end she would get her
way."

He paused abruptly in his walk and confronted her.

"Then, for Heaven's sake," he demanded, "why didn't you tell me that
before?"

"You never asked me. I couldn't go around shouting it out for nothing.
Besides, it was only my opinion, in which, after all, I am quite likely
to be wrong."

"But quite likely to be right."

"I suppose so. Naturally, I should have told you," she went on, humbly,
"if