nswering look to his pleasantry. It was not wholly denied. She
yielded to a touch of amusement with a cool smile, and hastened her
steps. The man kept pace without effort. Luckily, the car stood only
a few feet away, with Renaud, or rather Hand, at the curb, holding open
the door. A vague bow and a lifting of the hat, and apparently the
stranger went the other way. She felt a foolish relief, and at the
same instant noted with surprise that the cover of her car had been
raised.

"Why did you raise the top?"

"It appeared to me, Mademoiselle, that it was likely to rain."

"Put it down again. It will not rain," Miss Redmond was saying, when,
from sidelong eyes, she saw that the stranger had not turned in the
other direction, after all, but was almost in her tracks, as though he
were stalking game. With foot on the step she said sharply, but in a
low voice, "To the Plaza quickly," then immediately added, with a
characteristic practical turn: "But don't get yourself arrested for
speeding."

"No, Mademoiselle, with this car I can make--" Even as the chauffeur
replied, Miss Redmond's sharpened senses detected a passage of glances
between him and the stranger, now close behind her.

She sprang into the tonneau and seized the door, but not before the man
had caught at it with a stronger hold, and stepped in close after her.
The chauffeur was in his seat, the car was moving slowly, now faster
and faster. Suddenly the bland countenance slid very near her own,
while firm hands against her shoulders crowded her into the farther
corner of the tonneau.

"O Renaud--Hand!" she cried, but the driver made no sign. "Help,
help!" she shrieked, but the cry was instantly choked into a feeble
protest. A mass of something, pressed to her mouth and nostrils,
incited her to superhuman efforts. She struggled frantically, fumbled
at the door, tore at the curtain, and succeeded in getting her head for
an instant at the opening, while she clutched her assailant and held
him helpless. But only for a moment. The firm large hands quickly
overpowered even the strength induced by frenzy, and in another minute
she was lying unresisting on the soft cushions of the tonneau.

The car careened through the streets, the figure of the unresponsive
Hand mocked her cries for help, the neat hard face of the stranger
continued to bend over her. Then everything swam in a maelstrom of
duller and duller sense, the world grew darker and fainter, t