g, but it is very possible that
you may be able to serve me. My aunt is giving a party for me Thursday
night. I must leave it to you as how best to arrange for a short
interview the day following. A very dear friend needs help. The matter
is urgent. You will think it a fine irony that I should call upon you
for a service that may be disagreeable if not dangerous, when your
unaccountable way of life has caused me so much unhappiness."

The match curled and fell from Archie's fingers. A tense silence lay
upon the garden. A bat slanted eerily through the warm air. The Governor
clasped Archie's hand tightly. He seemed swayed by a deep emotion, and
when he spoke it was in a husky whisper.

"It has come as I always knew it would come! And something tells me I am
near the end. Even with all my faith, boy, it's staggering. And this is
the very night of the dance. Ah, listen to that!"

They had moved out into a broad walk and Archie saw that the house was
brilliantly lighted. Suddenly the strains of a lively two-step drew
their attention to a platform that extended out upon the lawn from the
conservatory, and at the same moment electric lamps shone in dozens of
Japanese lanterns along the hedge-lined paths. The Governor looked at
his watch. It was half-past nine.

"It's about time for us to clear out," Archie remarked.

"What! Leave this sacred soil when _she's_ here? Not on your life,
Archie! I shall not leave till I've had speech with her."

"She mentioned the day following the dance in the note," Archie
protested. "You'd certainly make a mess of things if you tried to butt
into the party."

"On the other hand the festal occasion offers an ideal opportunity for
the meeting! It's going to be a big affair; already machines are dashing
into the driveway in large numbers. We can merge in the happy throng and
trust to our wits to get us out alive. The aunt is seventy and very
wise; she'll know us instantly as men of quality."

He urged Archie, still resisting, through the grounds to the front
entrance, where they were admitted with several other guests who arrived
at the same moment. The gentlemen they found in the dressing room merely
glanced at them carelessly or nodded. An old gentleman, mistaking
Archie for some one else, asked assistance with an obstreperous tie and
expressed his gratitude in the warmest terms. The Governor, primping
with the greatest deliberation, had never been calmer. To Archie this
intrusion in th