out?" asked Angela.

"I can put the best detective in San Francisco on to the job. He shall
follow up the clues like a bloodhound, and hang on to them when he's got
'em, like a bulldog."

"Oh, but don't let's put off our journey!" Angela exclaimed. "I feel, if
we do that, we'll never go. It has always----" she half-whispered, "seemed
too good to come true."

"I'd rather do 'most anything than put off the trip," said Nick. "But
there's time for everything. We don't leave the hotel till after nine.
Dinner won't be ready for a bit; and if you'll let me, I'll go out now and
see a man I've heard of--a very smart detective."

But Angela begged him to wait. She hated the thought of being left alone
till she was sure that no ill effect need be feared from the poison. So
Nick stayed, not unwillingly, and a simple dinner was ordered in haste.

Kate was sure that after what had happened she would have no appetite for
dinner; but, like a true Irish girl, she was romantic to the core of her
heart; and because she was deeply in love with her Tim, she had the
"seeing eye" which showed her clearly what was in Nick Hilliard's heart
for Angela.

Of course, he was not good enough for her lady; no man could be. But Kate
had a sneaking kindness for Nick, the splendid giver of the golden bag,
and would not, by offering her services as cutter-up-of-food for the
queen, rob him of the privilege.

So Kate slipped out unobtrusively, and the privilege in question became
Nick's. It was a joy, even a delirious joy, but it was also an ordeal; for
as he fed her, Angela smiled at him. Each time that he proffered a
spoonful of soup or a morsel of chicken she met his gaze with laughing
eyes, roguish, under dark lashes, as the eyes of a child. The difficulty
when this happened, as it did constantly, was to keep hands steady and
mind calm, as if for the performance of a delicate surgical operation;
because to drop a thing, or aim it wrongly, would have been black
disgrace. And to ensure perfection of aim, attention must be concentrated
upon the lady's lips as she opened them to receive supplies. It was to
watch the unfolding of a rosebud into a rose while forbidden to touch the
rose. And even monks of the severest brotherhoods may pluck the flowers
that grow beside their cloisters.

Nick did not leave Angela until Kate had come back; then he and the Irish
girl together unwound the bandages. There was a moment of suspense, but
the hands were satin-