himself
to some curry.

"I believe after all, Stella," he said, "that you know very little about
me. I am naturally a most tender-hearted person."

"You have managed," she remarked drily, "to conceal your weakness most
effectively."

"A journalist," he reminded her, "is used to conceal them. Without the
arts of lying and acting, we might as well abandon our profession.
Seriously, Stella, I am sorry for the child. I wish you could find her
and pack her off home."

Stella shrugged her shoulders.

"In the first place," she said, "I have no idea where to look; and in
the second, she is one of those obstinate children who never do what
they are told, or see reason."

"I admit," he replied, "that finding her is rather a difficulty, but
after all, you see, it is you directly, and I indirectly, who are
responsible for her troubles. I think we ought to do what we can. I wish
I hadn't let her go the other night."

"I am becoming," Stella said, smiling, "a little jealous of my cousin."

He looked at her with steady scrutiny, as though he were curious to
decide how much of truth there might be in her words.

"You have no need, my dear Stella," he said, "to be jealous of Virginia
or any other girl. This is simply the dying kick of a nearly finished
conscience."

"If I come across her," Stella said, "I will do what I can. If you see
her again, and I should think you are the more likely, find out her
address and I will go and see her. By the by," she added, leaning across
the table towards him, "you seem very confident of preserving it. Tell
me, where do you keep that paper?"

He smiled.

"Ah!" he said. "All my secrets save one are yours, but I think that that
one I will not tell you."

She frowned at him, obviously annoyed.

"Do you mean that?" she asked. "Surely you do not hesitate to trust me?"

"Not for one moment," he answered. "On the other hand, the knowledge of
a thing of that sort is better in as few hands as possible. You will be
none the better for knowing. Circumstances might arise to make even the
knowledge an embarrassment to you. Take my advice, and do not ask me
that question."

Stella's face had grown darker.

"It is I," she said, "whom you have to thank for the possession of it.
Considering that you go in danger every moment, I think that some one
else save yourself should share in the knowledge of what you have
done with it."

"Let me recommend," he said, studying the menu for a moment with