lked, and I now
said:

'I am very sorry your friend did not come in person. She did not seem
much hurt.'

'She was not, and she would have come with me, only----' Again she
cast her eyes in the direction of the guard, who still stood looking
both anxious and ill at ease, and for a moment she seemed to hesitate.
In that moment the guard's fine face flushed again, and then set
itself in cold, resolute lines. He lifted his hand in salute to me,
and, without a second glance at the little brunette, strode back
toward the viaduct.

The face of the girl showed instant relief, and she put out her hand.

'The bag, please!'

'Excuse me,' I answered, 'but really I can't let the lady's property
out of my hands without something to prove your right to it. Since the
lady is so near, if you will permit, I will go back with you.'

'How dare'--she threw back her head, and her black eyes darted
annihilation--'how dare you, sir! Because I condescend to address you,
to oblige an acquaintance, do you fancy I will accept your escort and
pocket your insult? Not for ten thousand leather bags!' She turned
upon her heel and went swiftly back towards Midway, and after watching
her for a moment I resumed my often-interrupted march, smiling as I
went to think how the clever little brunette had been thwarted. That
she was an adventuress I did not for a moment doubt. She had seen the
dropped bag, of course, and had noted my pursuit of its owner, and
its failure, and she had counted upon making me an easy dupe with that
assured little demand of hers. But I was not quite a stranger to her
kind. Perhaps if the good-looking guard had not been so suddenly put
to rout I might have turned the young lady over to him; such offenders
were his legitimate care. But as I thought of her easy,
self-possessed, good society air, and the black eyes so keen and
sophisticated, and then of his frank, ingenuous face, I almost laughed
aloud. She would have laughed at his authority, and slipped through
his fingers easily.

How quickly he had turned away at the first hint that she found his
presence at our brief interview undesirable, flushing like a boy, too!

Of course I readily saw why she should prefer to make her little
attempt without witnesses, especially those clothed with a measure of
authority; and yet he had seemed to go away reluctantly.

And then I remembered his explanation or excuse in having followed and
addressed me. He had known the young lady--