. Stanley--a new client of his who had recently bought a town house
in East Eighty-third Street and a country house on Long Island; and who
had applied to him to find her fugitive butler and a pint or two of
family jewels. And, after her talk with the Tracer of Lost Persons, Mrs.
Gatewood knew that her favorite among all her husband's friends, Mr.
Kerns, would never of his own volition go near that same Marjorie
Manners who had flirted with him to the very perilous verge before she
told him why she was going to England--and who, now a widow, had
returned with her five-year-old daughter to dwell once more in the city
of her ancestors.

Kerns had said very simply: "She has spoiled women for me--all except
you, Mrs. Gatewood. And if Jack hadn't married you--"

"I understand, Mr. Kerns. I'm awfully sorry."

"Don't feel sorry; only, if you can, call Jack off. He's been perfectly
possessed to marry me to somebody ever since he married you. And if I
told him why I don't care to consider the matter he wouldn't believe
me--he'd spend his life in trying to bring me around. Besides, I
couldn't ever tell him about--Marjorie Manners. Anyhow, nothing on earth
could ever induce me to look at her again. . . . You say she is now a
widow?"

"Yes, Mr. Kerns, and very beautiful."

"Never again," muttered Kerns. "Never! She was homely enough when I
asked her to marry me. I don't want to see her; I don't want to know
what she looks like. I'm glad she has changed so I wouldn't recognize
her, for that means the end of it all--the final elimination of the girl
I remember on the ship. . . . It was probably a sort of diseased
infatuation, wasn't it, Mrs. Gatewood? Think of it! A few days on
shipboard and--and I asked her to marry me! . . . I don't blame her,
after all, for letting me dangle. It was an excellent opportunity for
her to study a rare species of idiot. She was justified and I am
satisfied. Only, do call Jack off with a hint or two."

"I shall try," said young Mrs. Gatewood thoughtfully--very thoughtfully,
for already every atom and fiber of her femininity was aroused in behalf
of these two estranged young people whom Providence certainly had not
meant to put asunder.

CHAPTER XII

"Nothing," said Gatewood firmly, "can make me believe that Kerns ought
not to marry somebody; and I'm never going to let up on him until he
does. I'll bet I could fix him for life if I called in the Tracer to
help me. Isn't it extraordinary