ase," and her face was
suddenly full of real concern, "is there truly great danger?"

"I fear so," he answered. "It is only a question of time. I have tried
to check this uprising, but I've failed. They don't trust me. Last night
Von Blitz, Rasula and three others came to the bungalow and coolly
informed me that my services were no longer required. I told them to--to
go to--"

"I understand," she said quickly. "It required courage to tell them
that." He smiled.

"They protested friendship, but I can read very well as I run. But can't
we find something more agreeable to talk about? May I say that I have
not seen a newspaper in three months? The world has forgotten me. There
must be news that you can give me. I am hungry for it."

"You poor man! No newspapers! Then you don't know what has happened in
all these months?"

"Nothing since before Christmas. Would you like to see a bit of news
that I clipped from the last Paris paper that came into my hands?"

"Yes," she said, vaguely disturbed. He drew forth his pocketbook and
took from its interior a small bit of paper, which he handed to her, a
shamed smile in his eyes. She read it at a glance and handed it back. A
faint touch of red came into her cheeks.

"How very odd! Why should you have kept that bit of paper all these
months?"

"I will admit that the announcement of the approaching nuptials of two
persons whom I had met so casually may seem a strange thing to cherish,
but I am a strange person. You have been married nearly three months,"
he said reflectively. "Three months and two days, to be precise."

She laughed outright, a bewitching, merry laugh that startled him.

"How accurate you would be," she exclaimed. "It would be a highly
interesting achievement, Mr. Chase, if it were only borne out by facts.
You see, I have not been married so much as three minutes."

He stared at her, uncomprehending.

She went on: "Do you consider it bad luck to postpone a wedding?"

Involuntarily he drew his horse closer to hers. There was a new gleam in
his eyes; her blood leaped at the challenge they carried.

"Very bad luck," he said quite steadily; "for the bridegroom."

In an instant they seemed to understand something that had not even been
considered before. She looked away, but he kept his eyes fast upon her
half-turned face, finding delight in the warm tint that surged so
shamelessly to her brow. He wondered if she could hear the pounding of
his heart above th