s them as
your friends."

"Oh, it isn't that," he answered. "Only I was wondering--"

"What the Bishop would say?" she asked, looking at him with a roguish
smile. "Well, why not take him at his word and find out."

"By Jove!" he exclaimed. "I will! I believe you've hit on the very best
possible solution of our difficulty. The episcopal palace at Blanford is
absolutely the last place in the world where any one would think of
looking for a political conspirator, and, by some freak of fortune, the
police are entirely ignorant that I'm in any way connected with your
flight."

"Good! then it's settled!" she cried. "And we'll all accompany you."

"Ye-es, only the governor wouldn't go within a hundred yards of a
theatre, and my aunt calls actors children of--I forget whom--some one
in the Old Testament."

"Belial," suggested Miss Arminster.

"That's it. How did you know?"

"You forget," she said, "I was brought up in a convent."

"It'll never do," he continued, "for them to suspect who you really
are."

"Are we not actors?"

"Of course. We must have a dress rehearsal at once, and cast you for
your parts. But there's Friend Othniel--"

"Ah, yes," she said. "He's impossible."

"We must drop him somehow."

"That's easily managed," she replied. "Pay his hotel bill, and leave him
a note with a nice little cheque in it to be delivered after we've
gone."

"Then we must get away quickly, or he'll suspect."

"The sooner the better."

"I noticed that there was a ship sailing from Montreal for England this
afternoon."

"That'll just suit our purpose," she said. "Friend Othniel told me he
was going to walk up Mount Royal after lunch and wouldn't be back before
six."

"And you'll really come to Blanford?" he asked, taking her hand.

"Of course," she said. "Why should you doubt it?"

"Because," he replied, "it seems too good to be true. I was thinking,
hoping, that perhaps I might persuade you to come there for good, and
never go away."

"Ah," she interrupted him, "you're not going to say that?"

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because we've been such friends," she answered, "and it's quite
impossible."

"Are you sure?"

"Perfectly. And oh, I didn't want you to say it."

"But can't we be friends still?" he insisted.

"With all my heart, if you'll forget this mad dream. It would have been
impossible, even if I were free. Your people would never have accepted
me, and I would only have been a drag on you."

"No