upon a bus, and at
five minutes to midnight alighted at the Marble Arch. On entering the
park he quickly found the seat he had indicated as their meeting place,
and sat down to wait.

The home-going theatre traffic behind him in the Bayswater Road had
nearly ceased as the church clocks chimed the midnight hour. In the
semi-darkness of the park dark figures were moving, lovers with midnight
trysts like his own. In the long, well-lit road behind him motors full
of gaily-dressed women flashed homeward from suppers or theatres, while
from the open windows of a ballroom in a great mansion, the house of an
iron magnate, came the distant strains of waltz music.

Time dragged along. He strained his eyes down the dark pathway, but
could see no approaching figure. Had she at the last moment been
prevented from coming? He knew how difficult it was for her to slip
away at night, for Lady Ranscomb was always so full of engagements, and
Dorise was compelled to go everywhere with her.

At last he saw a female figure in the distance, as she turned into the
park from the Marble Arch, and springing to his feet, he went forward
to meet her. At first he was not certain that it was Dorise, but as he
approached nearer he recognized her gait.

A few seconds later he confronted her and grasped her warmly by the
hand. The black cloak she was wearing revealed a handsome jade-coloured
evening gown, while her shoes were not those one would wear for
promenading in the park.

"Welcome at last, darling!" he cried. "I was wondering if you could get
away, after all!"

"I had a little difficulty," she laughed. "I'm at a dance at the
Gordons' in Grosvenor Gardens, but I managed to slip out, find a taxi,
and run along here. I fear I can't stay long, or they will miss me."

"Even five minutes with you is bliss to me, darling," he said, grasping
her ungloved hand and raising it to his lips.

"Ah! Hugh. If you could only return to us, instead of living under this
awful cloud of suspicion!" the girl cried. "Every day, and every night,
I think of you, dear, and wonder how you are dragging out your days in
obscurity down in Kensington. Twice this week I drove along the Earl's
Court Road, quite close to you."

"Oh! life is a bit dull, certainly," he replied cheerfully. "But I have
papers and books--and I can look out of the window on to the houses
opposite."

"But you go out for a ramble at night?"

"Oh! yes," he replied. "Last night I set out at