n from point to point, from street to roof top, and from roof to
spire, the vague murmur of many sounds grew and spread and widened,
slowly, grandly; that profound and steady bourdon, as of an invisible
organ swelling, deepening, and expanding to the full male diapason of
the city aroused and signaling the advent of another year.

And they heard it, they two heard it, standing there face to face,
looking into each other's eyes, that unanswered question yet between
them, the question that had come to them with the turning of the year.
It was the old year yet when Condy had asked that question. In that
moment's pause, while Blix hesitated to answer him, the New Year had
come. And while the huge, vast note of the city swelled and vibrated,
she still kept silent. But only for a moment. Then she came closer to
him, and put a hand on each of his shoulders.

"Happy New Year, dear," she said.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

On New Year's Day, the last day they were to be together, Blix and
Condy took "their walk," as they had come to call it--the walk that
included the lifeboat station, the Golden Gate, the ocean beach beyond
the old fort, the green, bare, flower-starred hills and downs, and the
smooth levels of the golf links. Blix had been busy with the last
details of her packing, and they did not get started until toward two
in the afternoon.

"Strike me!" exclaimed Captain Jack, as Blix informed him that she had
come to say good-by. "Why, ain't this very sudden-like, Miss Bessemer?
Hey, Kitty, come in here. Here's Miss Bessemer come to say good-by;
going to New York to-morrow."

"We'll regularly be lonesome without you, miss," said K. D. B., as she
came into the front room, bringing with her a brisk, pungent odor of
boiled vegetables. "New York--such a town as it must be! It was
called Manhattan at first, you know, and was settled by the Dutch."

Evidently K. D. B. had reached the N's.

With such deftness as she possessed, Blix tried to turn the
conversation upon the first meeting of the retired sea captain and the
one-time costume reader, but all to no purpose. The "Matrimonial
Objects" were perhaps a little ashamed of their "personals" by now, and
neither Blix nor Condy were ever to hear their version of the meeting
in the back dining-room of Luna's Mexican restaurant. Captain Jack
was, in fact, anxious to change the subject.

"Any news of the yarn yet?" he suddenly inquired of Co