uring the past eight weeks."

By this time he had ascertained two certain facts about Hermione
Beauregard Grandison. In the first place, she was the prettiest and
most graceful creature he had ever met; in the second, she had all the
hall-marks of good breeding and high social caste. His brain was so
busy over these discoveries that he disregarded the really remarkable
way in which the object of his visit had been shelved for the moment.
It might reasonably be expected that the disconsolate lady would be
concerned mainly as to the fate of the missing bridegroom, but the
mistress evidently shared the maid's disquietude about Curtis himself.

And, precisely as in the case of Marcelle, Miss Grandison's face showed
relief when it became manifest that he was a complete stranger.

"Pray forgive me for questioning you in this manner," she said, with a
rapid reversion to a conventional air that disconcerted her hearer in a
way she little imagined. "Will you come in here, and be seated? . . .
Now, please tell me just why you have called, Mr. Curtis."

She had preceded him into a prettily furnished dining-room, and the
notion leaped up in his troubled mind that she was not so deeply moved
by the malfortune of Monsieur Jean de Courtois as might be expected
from the man's prospective bride.

Still, he tried bravely to accommodate himself to conditions which left
his brain in a whirl.

"I had better begin by saying that your marriage cannot take
place--to-night----" he added, flinching from the necessity of bringing
that look of dismay into those charming eyes. "That is why I asked
your maid if there was no other person whom I could take into my
confidence. You see, it is a terribly hard thing to be compelled to
discuss such a matter with one so closely bound up with--with Monsieur
de Courtois."

"But there is no one else. Marcelle and I live here quite alone."

More than ever did Curtis feel uncomfortable, but he had deliberately
elected for this miserable job, and he meant to go through with it.

"So I gathered from Mademoiselle Marcelle herself," he said. "Well,
then, Miss Grandison, I have no option but to inform you, with all the
sympathy any man must feel for a woman in your position, that Monsieur
de Courtois has met with an accident."

"Oh, how terrible! Is he badly hurt?"

"Yes."

"Yet it may be possible for the ceremony to be performed. Monsieur de
Courtois has proved himself such a true friend, he h