Brown again, this time with a suspicion
of a smile.

"Now, Brownie, I want you to help me," said Helen. "It is hard enough.
There is nothing between us now. He wishes it to be so, and after all,
I do too."

"You do? Look me in the face and say you do."

Helen looked him steadily in the face, and said, quietly, "Yes, I do.
In all sincerity I believe it is far better so. Mother is quite
determined, and she has only me. It is the only thing possible, so I
want you to help me."

"And all that--that--that thing last spring was a farce--a mistake, I
mean?"

"Yes, a mistake. An awful mistake. You see," explained Helen,
hurriedly, "I was dreadfully excited, and--well, you know, I made a
fool of myself. And so, Brownie, you must help me."

"Help you--how? To keep him off? That won't be hard. Tell him it was
all a mistake last spring and that you regret it, and you won't need to
do anything else, if I know him."

"I have--at least mother has told him."

"Your mother?" gasped Brown. "Then that settles it. Good-by. I did not
expect this of you."

"Come back, Brownie. You know you are unkind, and you must not desert
me."

"Well, what in heaven's name do you want me to do? Keep him off?"

"Oh, I do not know," said Helen, breaking through her calm. "I don't
know. What can I do?"

"Do?" said Brown. "Let him tell you." He had great faith in Shock's
powers.

But the next two days were days of miserable anxiety to Brown. If Shock
would only do as he was told and act like an ordinary man, Brown had no
doubt of the issue.

"Oh, if he'll only play up," he groaned to himself, in a moment of
desperation. "If he'll only play up he'll take all that out of her in
about three minutes."

The only question was, would he play. Brown could only trust that in
some way kind Providence would come to his aid. On the afternoon of the
second day, the day of Shock's arrival, his hope was realized, and he
could not but feel that Fortune had condescended to smile a little upon
him.

Shock's train was late. The Superintendent had sought Brown out, and
adjured him by all things sacred to produce his man at the committee
meeting at the earliest possible moment, and this commission Brown had
conscientiously fulfilled.

Toward evening he met Helen downtown, and was escorting her homeward
when they fell in with Tommy Phillips, a reporter for the Times. He was
evidently in a state of considerable excitement.

"I have just had a great exper