y wrong, but evidently
you're not content it should stop at friendship. We can settle what's to
be done to-morrow. Meantime--you've put me in such a position! What am I
to say?"

She shrugged her shoulders.

"Go to your work, I've no arrangement with Freddy. I don't expect him
here. If he came I shouldn't let him in. Your honor is safe enough in my
hands for to-night. Does that satisfy you?"

Her tone had a merciless lashing quality. He bowed his head before it.
His words stumbled.

"I trust you, Bella. I'm sorry."

"Then go. In the morning--"

She waved her hand vaguely.

"We'll arrange--something."

His eyes begged, but she offered nothing more. So he went out, closing
the door softly behind him.

Almost immediately he heard the sound of a motor. He couldn't find his
hat. The front door bell rang, and, snatching an ancient cap from the
table, he opened the door. No one stood in the verandah, but the glare
of powerful automobile headlights blinded him.

"You're Mrs. Hanson's chauffeur?" he called.

An indistinct voice came back affirmatively. Randall caught the word
"hurry." Therefore he ran down the steps, and, his eyes still blinded by
the glare, stepped into a large runabout and settled himself by the
driver.

They swung away at a breakneck speed which before long swept Randall's
cap from his head and forced him to cling with both hands to the side of
the car.

The landscape tore up through the glare and disappeared in a dense and
terrifying confusion of darkness.

"Man!" he shouted. "This is dangerous. There's no point in such haste."

He managed to turn, but the other had protected himself against the cold
by rolling his collar up about his face and drawing his slouch hat down
to meet it.

"Slower!" Randall commanded.

The car swerved. The other cried hoarsely:

"Look out! Hold tight!"

Randall clung, but the car kept the road. Its speed was all at once
reduced. With a disconcerting jerk it came to a standstill. As Randall,
trying to recover his balance, started to speak angrily, something soft
and blinding struck his face and enveloped his head. His hands, raised
purposelessly, were caught and pinioned. The cloth suddenly became moist
and a familiar odor arose. The other laughed as he fastened a cord about
the arms and body. Randall gasped. His bound limbs relaxed.

The driver turned the car, and, with one arm around the senseless
doctor, drove in leisurely fashion back towards Elmford