. It's me who'll carry it out."

"Supposing you fail?" she whispered.

"I won't, if you'll do your part. Just the little part, my lady; we can't
get on without your doin'. You send her there, to the right place; that's
all. For the rest you can count on me."

"Oh!" Carmen shuddered, and put her hands before her face. "To think it's
for to-day--_to-day!_ If only the _other thing_ had gone through all
right, and she'd been made so hideous that he couldn't look at her, this
horror might have been saved. I'd have wanted no more. Once he'd seen her
face, that he thinks so angelic, red, and swollen and hardly human, he
could never have felt the same toward her again. And it wouldn't have hurt
her much in the end. But evidently she isn't the kind that's affected by
that stuff. I know there are some who aren't. Those two haven't spoken
about the box to me, Simeon. I was afraid at first Nick might suspect, and
be watching. But that's nonsense, of course. And she wouldn't be here now
if the idea had crossed his mind."

"Nobody'll ever know," said Simeon. "I went such a long way. I changed
trains three times and walked miles in between. Besides, when I posted the
box I was wearin' something different from what I ever wear here. I was
another man to look at."

"Oh, yes, I'm sure you did your part well," Carmen said quickly. "It was
Fate interfered. I felt it would. All the cards near me were black just
then. I don't know what I should do without you, Simeon--good old
watch-dog! You shall be rich the rest of your life if you win me
happiness."

"I've got all I want," the squirrel poisoner answered. "It's a pleasure to
me to serve you. You don't need to offer no rewards, except to keep me
near you, my lady, and give me my bite and sup. You ought to know that by
this time--_anyhow since a year ago_."

"I know! And you're clever, as well as faithful. I should never have
thought of as good a way as--as this. No one could possibly prove it was
anything but an accident. Did you--see her, Simeon?"

"Yes; I wasn't far off when Nick's big yeller automobile spilt you both
out at the door. To my idea, she ain't nothing to you. I was never one for
blondes."

"If you could see Nick's eyes when he looks at her! Those are the times
when I feel like the Roman Empress. I was glad he wouldn't stay to lunch.
Though I asked, I don't think I could have stood having him. I'd have done
something desperate, maybe, and spoilt everything. She's lyi