to rub some of this under your eyes." And
Mr. Keen produced a make-up box and, walking over to Carden, calmly
darkened the skin under his eyes.

"I look as though I had been on a bat!" exclaimed Carden, surveying
himself in a mirror. "Do you think any girl could find any attraction in
such a countenance?"

"_She_ will," observed the Tracer meaningly. "Now, Mr. Carden, one last
word: The moment you find yourself in love with her, and the first
moment you have the chance to do so decently, make love to her. She
won't dismiss you; she will repulse you, of course, but she won't let
you go. I know what I am saying; all I ask of you is to promise on your
honor to carry out these instructions. Do you promise?"

"I do."

"Then here is the map of the rendezvous which I have drawn. Be there
promptly. Good morning."

CHAPTER XXII

At one o'clock that afternoon a young man earnestly consulting a map
might have been seen pursuing his solitary way through Central Park.
Fresh green foliage arched above him, flecking the path with fretted
shadow and sunlight; the sweet odor of flowering shrubs saturated the
air; the waters of the lake sparkled where swans swept to and fro, snowy
wings spread like sails to the fitful June wind.

"This," he murmured, pausing at a shaded bend in the path, "must be
Bench Number One. I am not to sit on that. This must be Bench Number
Two. I _am_ to sit on that. So here I am," he added nervously, seating
himself and looking about him with the caution of a cat in a strange
back yard.

There was nobody in sight. Reassured, he ventured to drop one knee over
the other and lean upon his walking stick. For a few minutes he remained
in this noncommittal attitude, alert at every sound, anxious,
uncomfortable, dreading he knew not what. A big, fat, gray squirrel
racing noisily across the fallen leaves gave him a shock. A number of
birds came to look at him--or so it appeared to him, for in the
inquisitive scrutiny of a robin he fancied he divined sardonic meaning,
and in the blank yellow stare of a purple grackle, a sinister
significance out of all proportion to the size of the bird.

"What an absurd position to be in!" he thought. And suddenly he was
seized with a desire to flee.

He didn't because he had promised not to, but the desire persisted to
the point of mania. Oh, how he could run if he only hadn't promised not
to! His entire being tingled with the latent possibilities of a burst of
te