n's fancy----'" murmured Phil with a nod of
comprehension; but he did not complete the quotation. There was
nothing lover-like in the actions of the pair on the park bench; in
fact, the young woman appeared to be taking Stiles to task about
something. Did the circumstances justify a closer approach with the
object of overhearing the conversation?

Kendrick still was debating this delicate problem when he saw two men
slinking cautiously behind the bench from the concealment of the park
shrubbery. Before he could shout a warning they had closed in silently
and swiftly upon the unsuspecting occupants. The girl's cry was
smothered by one assailant and Stiles was struggling desperately with
the other.

It happened so unexpectedly that Kendrick stood for an instant, held by
his amazement. Then without a sound he sped across the street, vaulted
the iron fence and charged into the middle of the excitement with ready
fists. The man who had Stiles down was nearest and Phil paused long
enough to send him reeling with a well-directed blow on the side of the
head. He leaped the overturned bench, and made for the girl's
attacker, who promptly took to his heels.

Phil chased him for several rods through the shrubbery before he swung
back toward the bench. But in the brief interval both the other fellow
and young Stiles himself had vanished and he found only the young
woman, calmly dusting her skirt. She stood in a finger of light from
the neighboring arc lamp and Kendrick stopped short, getting back his
breath and staring at her in undisguised astonishment. It seemed as if
she was always to find him staring at her--this cold and haughty and
very pretty stenographer from the office of Blatchford Ferguson!

"Why, Miss Williams!" he exclaimed, and stepped forward quickly. "Are
you hurt at all?" He righted the bench. "Perhaps you had better sit
down," he urged with polite anxiety.

"It's Mr. Kendrick, aint it? No, I'm all right." Nevertheless she
seated herself, patting nervously at a disarranged strand of hair. "It
was so kind of you----"

"Nonsense!" interrupted Phil in deprecation. "I was passing along the
street and luckily happened to glance over at the park just as those
fellows attacked you. How many of them were there?--three?" he asked
innocently. "I wasn't sure which of those two who were fighting I
ought to hit," he laughed.

"It was a case of purse-snatchin'," she said hastily with a shrug of
unconce