't look at me as if
I were a stranger. It was as if he knew me, and almost fell over himself
to see me again. That was the feeling I had, but I was--a little
excited."

"Most girls would have been corpses!"

"I felt like a live coal. But we mustn't let the gang make a corpse of
Mr. Heron, must we? Let's warn him. Where are we, anyhow?"

"Same house you were in. Doctor said it wouldn't be safe to move you. We
disinfected the best we could in a hurry, and he extracted the bullet
from your poor little shoulder. Thank God, I was in time, or there might
have been another bullet or two, that couldn't be extracted! You're all
right now, or will be with a little rest, and we'll get you into a
nursing home. As for Heron, he and his wife have gone to Narragansett.
That's close to Newport, you know, where Mrs. Sands is."

"Angel in Newport already! Then the pearls--but I told Ellen Blackburne
to take them there if she had to. Do you think she will?"

"Sure! She'll catch the first train."

"No. She won't do that. She thinks of her mother before everything. But
the ball's not till to-morrow. Angel won't need the pearls till then.
Oh, if I could be sure she'll get them! I can't rest till I'm sure. I
must go to Newport. I must."

"When you're strong enough."

"I'm strong enough now. Is it late?"

"Getting on toward evening. You were a long time coming to yourself.
Presently the doctor will say whether you can be moved to-night to that
nursing home."

"If I can be moved to a nursing home I can be moved to Newport. Tell the
doctor I shall burst if I can't go."

"You may tell him yourself."

"I _must_ go. I must know if all goes right with the pearls. I must know
if it's better or worse for Angel that Stephen's dead."

"Stephen's dead!"

"Yes. Did you know him?"

"I know of him. He is----"

"Don't tell me. She mightn't want me to hear. I haven't heard anything
except that Kit and Churn talked about his having died, and said Angel
had been cheated."

"By Jove, I begin to see light."

"Now you see why I must go to her? And you've forgotten maybe what I
told you about Mr. Heron. If he's near Newport, I----"

"Look here, darling, if the doctor says you can be taken there
to-morrow--oh, in time to arrive before the famous ball--let's say in a
comfortable motor car, travelling slowly, banked up on cushions, will
you go as my wife?"

Clo stared as if O'Reilly had broken into some strange language which he
expected he