er!"

As if to emphasize a vow she threw one arm around her lover's neck and
drew his face to hers so that she could kiss it,--a maneuver she
executed at some risk to their safety. "Oh, Archie, I love you so--I
can't give you up!" she whispered by way of explanation.

He returned her kiss with good will, though mentally preoccupied, and
said, "Of course not, dearest!" and continued to hold her while she
steered the car, which was traveling at a lively rate along the empty
_route nationale_ in the direction of Paris. And thus they proceeded for
mile after mile or rather ten kilometres after ten kilometres. Adelle
and the car seemed to be inspired by the same energy and will. Archie
realized that they were going rapidly to Paris and felt rather
frightened at first. It was one thing to make love to an heiress not yet
of age, but another to elope with her across France at night. Archie was
not sure, but he thought there might be legal complications in the way
of immediate matrimony. He might be getting himself in for a
thoroughgoing scrape, which was not much to his liking. But there seemed
no way of stopping Adelle or the car.

For Adelle had no doubts. It was the greatest night of her life. She
drove the car recklessly, but splendidly. Every now and then she would
turn her pale face to her lover and say peremptorily,--"Kiss me,
Archie!"--and Archie dutifully gave the kiss, which seemed to be all the
stimulant she needed.

The wild rush through the night beside her lover appeased something
within her. It answered her craving for romance, newly awakened, for
daring and desperation and achievement of bliss. She felt exalted, proud
of herself, as if she were vindicating her claim to character.
To-morrow, when Pussy Comstock and the girls found that she had gone,
they would know that she was no weak fool. And by that time, of course,
it would all be over--irrevocable.

"You'll marry me as soon as we get there," she remarked once to Archie
in exactly the same tone as she said, "Kiss me, Archie." The young man
falteringly replied,--"Of course, if we can."

"Of course we can! Why not?" Adelle replied firmly. "Americans can marry
any time."

She felt sure that speedy marriage was an inalienable right that went
with American citizenship together with the privilege of getting
divorced whenever one cared to. Archie was by no means so sure of this
point, but he thought it well not to discuss it until they both had more
exact