ht--a white satin slipper--"

Jack finished the remainder of his glass at a gulp. "Good God!" he
remarked.

"Quite right," I retorted hotly. "Accuse me Anything you like! But go to
my headquarters, get that slipper, go to this address with it"--I
scrawled on a piece of paper and thrust it at him--"then get a carriage
and hasten to Elmhurst drive, where it turns in at the road. Wait for me
there, just before six."

He sat looking at me with amusement and amazement both upon his face, as
I went on:

"Listen to what I am to do in the meantime. First I go post haste to Mr.
Calhoun's office. Then I am to take his message, which will send me to
Canada, to-night. After I have my orders I hurry back to Brown's and
dress for my wedding."

The glass in his hand dropped to the floor in splinters.

"Your wedding?"

"Yes, Miss Elisabeth and I concluded this very morning not to wait. I
would ask you to help me as my best man, if I dare."

"You do dare," said he. "You're all a-fluster. Go on; I'll get a
parson--how'll Doctor Halford do?--and I'd take care of the license for
you if I could--Gad! sorry it's not my own!"

"You are the finest fellow in the world, Jack. I have only one thing
more to ask"--I pointed to the splintered glass upon the floor--"Don't
get another."

"Of course not, of course not!" he expostulated. His voice was just a
trifle thickened. We left now together for the license clerk, and I
intrusted the proper document in my friend's hands. An instant later I
was outside, mounted, and off for Calhoun's office at his residence in
Georgetown.

At last, as for the fourth time I flung down the narrow walk and looked
down the street, I saw his well-known form approaching. He walked
slowly, somewhat stooped upon his cane. He raised a hand as I would
have begun to speak. His customary reserve and dignity held me back.

"So you made it out well with the lady," he began.

"Yes," I answered, flushing. "Not so badly for the time that offered."

"A remarkable woman," he said. "Most remarkable!" Then he went on: "Now
as to your own intended, I congratulate you. But I suggest that you keep
Miss Elisabeth Churchill and the Baroness von Ritz pretty well
separated, if that be possible."

"Sir," I stammered; "that certainly is my personal intent. But now, may
I ask--"

"You start to Canada to-night," said Calhoun sharply--all softness gone
from his voice.

"I can not well do that," I began. His hand tapped with d