ot trying to frighten you; but what sort of mercy would a
judge show to the craven who absconded before the battle began? If, on
the other hand, I am, so to speak, torn from your arms--if a plausible
lawyer can depict you tearful and inconsolable--if----"

"You make out a fairly strong case, Mr. Curtis. I have told you that I
trust you, and I can only repeat my words of gratitude. . . .
Marcelle, you will not leave me?"

"Never, miss, ma'am--that is, your ladyship."

Thus it befell that Curtis was ready with the name of a prominent hotel
in Fifth Avenue when the driver halted in Madison Avenue. He made his
choice almost at random, but selected one of the newest uptown
caravanserais, merely because it lay a considerable distance from 27th
Street. Otherwise, his object in picking a large hotel being to avoid
notice among a fashionable throng, he might easily have taken his
"wife" to the Waldorf-Astoria, in which event certain complications
even then hot in the making would not have followed their intricate
course, while Hermione's future must have been affected most powerfully.

"I suppose you are prepared to submit to certain conditions which
govern this new venture?" said Curtis, when the cab was once more
speeding onward to a definite goal.

"What are they?"

It would be scarcely fair to describe Hermione's tone as suspicious,
for she was a loyal soul, and was wondering in her heart of hearts what
manner of man this knight errant could be; but his very self-possession
fluttered her; she had been so accustomed to think and act in her own
defense that she experienced a subtle fear of this calm, cool-headed,
masterful person whom she must learn to regard as her husband.

"Well,"--Curtis's speech was so unemotional that he might have been
describing one of his Manchurian railway schemes--"we must treat each
other with a certain familiarity--even use little endearments--in
public--and address each other by pet names--mine is Chow."

Despite her troubles, the girl laughed, and Curtis recalled the tinkle
of silver bells in a temple at evening on the banks of the far-away
Wei-ho.

"But that is the name of a dog!" she tittered.

"Yes. In my case, it denoted some unpleasant personal characteristics
when a stupid mandarin put obstacles in my way. I never gave any
warning, but rushed in and bit him, not actually, of course, but in his
illicit commissions, which annoyed him more than a real bite."

"I don't like