r journey tomorrow."

"But a stranger appearing there! It's dangerous!" Archie protested.
"I wouldn't go back there for a million dollars!"

"Hoky would have taken the chance for me," said the Governor, firmly.
"The whole shore teems with tourists, and I'll leave it to your judgment
whether any one would take me for a crook. Be careful of my feelings,
Archie; I'm just a little emotional today. Hoky and I have run before
the hounds too often for me to desert him now. The people up there may
think what they please and go to the devil! Hoky had ideals of a sort;
he never squealed on a pal; he was as loyal as the summer sun to
ripening corn."

The Governor's interest in Hoky's obsequies was chivalrous beyond
question, but Archie resented being left alone. The Governor's departure
struck him in all the circumstances as a base desertion, and forlorn and
frightened he locked himself in his room, expecting that any moment the
police would batter down the door. The waiting for this catastrophe
became intolerable and after an hour of it he went downstairs meditating
a walk to the wharves. A young woman stood at the desk talking to the
clerk, who scanned the pages of the register and shook his head.

"No Mrs. Congdon has registered here within a week, I'm sure. Will you
leave any message?"

She said no and asked about trains.

"Did you want something, Mr. Comly?" the clerk asked courteously.

Archie had paused by the desk, staring open-mouthed at the young woman,
who was asking the boy who held her bag to summon a taxi. If he was
still possessed of his senses the girl in the gray tailored suit was
Isabel Perry. The walls of the hotel office appeared to be tipping
toward him. Isabel might have come to Portsmouth in answer to the prayer
of his heart, but not Isabel asking for Mrs. Congdon. Isabel had glanced
carelessly in his direction as the clerk addressed him as Mr. Comly and
he had promptly raised his hat, only to be met with a reluctant nod and
a look of displeasure with connotations of alarm. Having dramatized
himself as appearing before her, a splendid heroic figure, to receive
her praise for his exploits, this reception was all but the last straw
to his spirit. Moreover, she was walking toward the door as though
anxious to escape from him.

He darted after her, resolved to risk another snub before allowing her
to slip away ignorant of the vast change that had been wrought in him
since their meeting in Washington. A