unnecessarily," protested
Archie. "Why not confess just what your interest is in that family? I
told you quite plainly at Portsmouth that I had reason to believe I had
shot Putney Congdon at Bailey Harbor! But for the courage you put in my
heart I should never have done that!"

"If you did that you have ruined everything! A dastardly act for which I
hope you will pay the full penalty of the law!"

This was wholly unreasonable and quite beside himself he shook his
finger in her face.

"You seem to forget that you advised me to flout the law; to do just the
things I have been doing, roving the world, shooting and plundering!
There's a policeman at the other end of the platform; call him and turn
me over to the authorities!"

She glanced hurriedly in the direction of a policeman who had niched a
banana from a bunch providentially exposed to his rapacity on a truck,
and was hastily consuming it.

"Maybe he is watching me!" she gasped.

For a young woman who had prescribed outlawry as a cure for obstreperous
nerves her alarm was astonishing.

"May I ask, Miss Perry, what reason you have for fearing the
authorities?"

"That of course is what you would like to know!" she replied tearfully.
"But you know too much! If you have told me the truth your
meddlesomeness will have far-reaching consequences too dreadful to think
about! Your assumed name tells its own story and convinces me that you
have not told the truth. I went aboard that train to look for some one I
hoped I might meet, and you know perfectly well why I am here."

He could only stammer a futile expostulation at the gross injustice of
this.

"Everything has gone wrong," she continued, "and you may have all the
satisfaction you can get out of your interference, your intrusion upon
affairs of the greatest delicacy, in which my assistance and my honor
are pledged. That car standing yonder belongs to me and before I leave I
want you to walk away from here as rapidly as possible and not turn your
head!"

He did not even confirm her statement as to the propinquity of the car
but crossed the platform with the crestfallen air of a child in
disgrace. She had loftily ignored the kissing of Mrs. Abijah Strong. The
osculatory adventure with Sally shrank at once in importance from the
fact that Isabel had not only ignored it but had made it wholly
unnecessary for him to explain that transaction.

He knew nothing save that he was enormously tired and he went to the