iends in the Wallinghams. When I first saw you this
afternoon, I felt that I might have a right to your acquaintance--a
social right, if you like; a sympathetic right, I trust."

He held out his hand. She took it frankly, and the friendly pressure of
her fine, firm palm sent the blood tingling through him.

"I am sorry," she said, "that I can't give you my name. It would be
unfair just now--unfair to others; for if you knew who I am, it might
give you a clue to the secret I guard."

"Some day, I hope, I may know," he said gravely. "But your present wish
is my law. It is good of you to let me try to help you."

At the same instant they became conscious that their hands were still
clasped. The girl blushed, and gently drew hers away.

"I shall call you Girl," Orme added.

"A name I like," she said. "My father uses it. Oh, if I only knew what
that burglar wrote on the bill!"

Orme started. What a fool he had been! Here he was, trying to help the
girl, forcing her to the long, tired recital of her story, when all the
time he held her secret in the table in his sitting-room. For there was
still the paper on which he had copied the abbreviated directions.

"Wait here," he said sharply, and without answering the look of surprise
on her face, hurried from the room and to the elevator. A few moments
later he was back, the sheet of paper in his hand.

"I can't forgive my own stupidity," he said. "While I was puzzling over
the bill this evening I copied the secret on a sheet of paper. When
Poritol came I put it away in a drawer and forgot all about it. But here
it is." He laid the paper on the little, useless onyx table that stood
beside her chair.

She snatched it quickly and began to examine it closely.

"Perhaps you can imagine how those letters puzzled me," he volunteered.

"Hush!" she exclaimed; and then: "Oh, this is plain. You wouldn't know,
of course, but I see it clearly. There is no time to lose."

"You are going to follow this clue now--to-night?"

"Maku will read it on the bill, and--oh, these Japanese! If you have one
in your kitchen, you never know whether he's a jinriksha man, a college
student, or a vice-admiral."

"You will let me go with you?" Orme was trembling for the answer. He was
still in the dark, and did not know how far she would feel that she could
accept his aid.

"I may need you, Mr. Orme," she said simply.

It pleased him that she brought up no question of possible inconvenience
to