your parents know about"--he hesitated--"about this trip with the
chauffeur?"

Jane blushed guiltily, wondering what he suspected of her. She hoped
that he did not think she had a habit of going off on such journeys with
the chauffeur. Even though the man at her side was officially her enemy
she resented being put into a position that would cheapen her in
his eyes.

"No," she replied, "they knew nothing about it."

Hoff drove on in silence. She had feared that he might ask her more
embarrassing questions, might insist on knowing where she had been going
when the accident occurred. A panic seized her. What if he should ask
her? What could she tell him? He had a masterful way about him. If he
took it into his head to make her confess she realized that she would
have a struggle to keep from telling him everything. She made up her
mind that she would not, she dare not answer any more questions.

When he spoke again she was relieved to hear a suggestion instead of a
query.

"When we have crossed the ferry," he said, "you can put on a dust coat
to hide your costume, and I will send you home in a taxi. Will that be
all right?"

"That will do nicely," she replied, gratefully conscious that he was
endeavoring to plan so that her part in the afternoon's adventures need
not become public.

Nevertheless she waited nervously while Hoff and the doctor carried Dean
into the doctor's home. What if the doctor's suspicions should be
aroused, and he should insist on knowing all the details of the
accident? To her astonishment the doctor seemed to accept Hoff's brief
recital of finding an injured motorcyclist on the road without question.
Perhaps if she had seen the amount of the bills Hoff left to care for
the chauffeur's treatment she might have understood better.

Yet unconscious though Dean had lain all the way, as they resumed their
journey without him, she felt a sudden sense of dread at being alone in
the car with Frederic Hoff. It was not that she longer feared he would
endeavor to make her tell her reasons for the expedition. She was afraid
that with just the two of them alone in the car he might seize the
opportunity to declare his affection for her.

But, to her amazement, he hardly spoke a word to her on all the rest of
the journey homeward. Once in a while as she ventured a glance in his
direction, annoyed a little perhaps by this neglect of her, she saw only
a strong face set in lines of thought, his brow wrinkled