sconcing Lou at
the soda counter in the drug-store, he approached the telephone booth
farthest from her ears and closed the door carefully behind him. Lou
consumed her soda to its last delectable drop, glanced down anxiously at
the worn, but spotless, little silk gown to see if she had spilled any
upon it, and then wandered over to the showcase.

Jim's voice came to her indistinguishably once or twice, but it was a
full half-hour before he emerged from the booth. He looked wilted but
triumphant, and he beamed blissfully as he came toward her, mopping his
brow. He suspected that at the other end of the wire a certain
gray-haired, aristocratic old lady was having violent hysterics to the
immediate concern of three maids and an asthmatic Pekinese, but it did
not disturb his equanimity.

"It's all right," he announced. "Aunt Emmy expects you; I didn't tell
you, did I, that the lady I'm taking you to is my aunt? No matter. She's
awfully easy if you get on the right side of her; I've always managed
her beautifully ever since I was a kid, and you'll have her rolling over
and playing dead in no time. Fifteen miles more to go, Lou, and we'll
be----"

"Hello, there, Jim." An oil-soaked and greasy glove clapped his shoulder
and as he turned, the same voice, suddenly altered, stammered: "Oh, I
beg your pardon----"

"'Lo, Harry!" Jim turned to greet a tall, lean individual more tanned
than himself, with little, fine, weather lines about his eyes and an
abrupt quickness of gesture which denoted his hair-triggered nerves.
"What are you doing in this man's town?"

"Motoring down from the Hilton's," the other responded. "Pete was coming
with me, but at the last minute he decided to stay over the week-end.
I'm off to Washington to-night to see about my passport; sailing next
Wednesday for Labrador, you know."

"Then you're alone?" Jim turned. "Miss Lacey, let me present Mr. Van
Ness; he spends his time trailing all over the earth to find something
to kill. Miss Lacey is a young friend of my aunt's; I'm taking her down
to her for a visit."

The explanation sounded somewhat involved, but Mr. Van Ness seemed to
grasp it, and bowed.

"You're motoring, too?" he asked.

"No. I--The fact is--" Jim stammered in his turn. "We were thinking of
taking the train----"

"Why not let me take you both down in the car?" The other rose to the
occasion with evident alacrity. "Miss Lacy will like it better than the
train, I'm sure, and I haven