,' said the big man,
and he begged to be excused for not getting up. His wife interrupted
him in an explanation regarding his illness, and gradually I began to
see that, from their point of view, I was Lucy's saviour, a white
Knight, a modern Sir Galahad. They hoped I had suffered no
inconvenience when the detectives called at the Club. They had
communicated with Scotland Yard, not because they suspected me of
wishing to abduct their daughter, but because they wished to recover
their daughter, and it was important that she should be recovered at
once, for she was engaged to be married to a mathematical instrument
maker who was on his way from Chicago; he was expected in a few days;
he was at that moment on the Atlantic, and if it had not been for my
admirable conduct, Mrs. Delaney did not know what story she could have
told Mr. Wainscott."

"So Lucy is going to marry a mathematical instrument maker in Chicago?"

"Yes," said Harding, "and she is probably married to him by now. It
went to my heart to tell her that her mother was coming over to fetch
her, and that the mathematical instrument maker would arrive early next
week. But I had to tell her these unpleasant things, for I could not
take her away in Owen Asher's yacht, her age and the circumstances
forbade an agreeable episode among the Greek Islands. She is
charming.... Poor Lucy! She slipped down on the floor very prettily and
her hair fell on my knees. 'It isn't fair, you're going away on a
yacht, and I am going to Chicago.' And when I lifted her up she sat
upon my knees and wept. 'Why don't you take me away?' she said. 'My
dear Lucy, I'm forty and you're seventeen.' Her eyes grew enigmatic. 'I
shall never live with him,' she said."

"Did you kiss her?"

"We spent the evening together and I was sorry for her."

"But you don't know for certain that she married Wainscott."

"Yes. Wainscott wrote me a letter," and after some searching in his
pockets Harding found the letter.

"'DEAR SIR,--Mr. and Mrs. Delaney have told me of your kindness to
Lucy, and Lucy has told me of the trouble you took trying to get her an
engagement, and I write to thank you. Lucy did not know at the time
that I had become a partner in the firm of Sheldon & Flint, and she
thought that she might go on the stage and make money by singing, for
she has a pretty voice, to help me to buy a partnership in the business
of Sheldon & Flint. It was a kind thought. Lucy's heart is in the right