dently from the undraped windows of the
Occidental and the hotel opposite. Assisted in his search by Mrs.
Guffy, the officer succeeded in recovering the lost fan, and started to
return. Just without the hotel door, under the confusing shadows of
the wide porch, he came suddenly face to face with a young woman, the
unexpected encounter a mutual and embarrassing surprise.

CHAPTER VII

AN UNUSUAL GIRL

The girl was without wraps, her dress of some light, fleecy material
fitting her slender figure exquisitely, her head uncovered; within her
eyes Brant imagined he could detect the glint of tears. She spoke
first, her voice faltering slightly.

"Will you kindly permit me to pass?"

He stepped instantly to one side, bowing as he did so.

"I beg your pardon for such seeming rudeness," he said, gravely. "I
have been seeking you all the evening, yet this unexpected meeting
caught me quite unawares."

"You have been seeking me? That is strange. For what reason, pray?"

"To achieve what you were once kind enough to suggest as possible--the
formality of an introduction. It would seem, however, that fate makes
our meetings informal."

"That is your fault, not mine."

"I gladly assume all responsibility, if you will only waive the
formality and accept my friendship."

Her face seemed to lighten, while her lips twitched as if suppressing a
smile. "You are very forgetful. Did I not tell you that we
Presbyterians are never guilty of such indiscretions?"

"I believe you did, but I doubt your complete surrender to the creed."

"Doubt! Only our second time of meeting, and you already venture to
doubt! This can scarcely be construed into a compliment, I fear."

"Yet to my mind it may prove the very highest type of compliment," he
returned, reassured by her manner. "For a certain degree of
independence in both thought and action is highly commendable. Indeed,
I am going to be bold enough to add that it was these very attributes
that awakened my interest in you."

"Oh, indeed; you cause me to blush already. My frankness, I fear, bids
fair to cost me all my friends, and I may even go beyond your pardon,
if the perverse spirit of my nature so move me."

"The risk of such a catastrophe is mine, and I would gladly dare that
much to get away from conventional commonplace. One advantage of such
meetings as ours is an immediate insight into each other's deeper
nature. For one I shall sincerely rejoice if you