tory in which, so far,
they had uncovered little to add to that of yesterday. But first they
must know who this lovely girl was.

"You are a relative of Mr. Brand?" one of them hazarded.

"I am Mildred Annister, Dr. Philip Annister's daughter, and I am Felix
Brand's promised wife."

The instant ripple of interest among the reporters caused Mildred to
shrink back in sudden self-consciousness, her face scarlet.

"But please don't put that in the papers," she went on. "It's of no
interest to anybody but us, and we don't want the engagement announced
yet. I told you so you would understand how much right I have to be
interested. I am perfectly sure this dreadful creature, Hugh Gordon,
is at the bottom of the whole business, that these charges in the
papers this morning are nothing but revenge for his failure to
blackmail Mr. Brand, and it is just as certain as can be that he has
got Mr. Brand imprisoned somewhere, maybe drugged, and the thing for
you to do now is to find this Gordon and make him tell where Felix is.
Oh, please do!" she ended, with a sudden drop in her manner, her voice
choking.

Seasoned news gatherers though they were they could not repress all
sign of the gratification they felt at her words. They loosed a
battery of questions upon the two young women, but soon discovered
upon what a slender basis Miss Annister had based her theory.

They could tell her nothing whatever about the mysterious Hugh Gordon.
But they promised to follow her clue and to hunt him down if he could
be found. They went away well pleased, for even if this suggestion
should not lead to anything of consequence they had enough already to
warrant "scare heads" over tomorrow's story and to furnish a narrative
of even more "human interest" than the one set forth that morning.

Mildred Annister opened the paper the next morning with the greatest
eagerness and expectation. But she sank back in horrified dismay as
she saw the headlines. "I told them they mustn't say anything about me
or our engagement," she said to her father, "and now just look at
that!"

"Well, well," he replied, as he glanced over the article, "they've
been fairly decent, at any rate, in the way they've written it up,
though it's not pleasant for you to be thrown into the limelight like
this. As for their making known your engagement, it can't be helped
now, so there's no use worrying about it. But you mustn't want to be
married too soon, daughter."

Mildred we