g myself to all sorts of
things after a year or two. Flying machines, too, and long distance
swimming. I might even try to swim the English Channel. North Pole
expeditions, African wild game hunts,--all that sort of thing, Anne. I'll
promise to do everything in my power to make life as short as possible, if
you'll only--"

"Oh, Simmy, you are killing," she cried, laughing through her tears. "I
shall always adore you."

"That's what they all say. Well, I've done my best, Anne. If you'll run
away with me to-night, or to-morrow, or any time before the twenty-third,
I'll be the happiest man in the world. You can call me up any time,--at the
club or at my apartment. I'll be ready. Think it over. Good-bye. I wish I
could wish you good luck in this other--but, of course, you couldn't expect
that. We're a queer lot, all of us. I've always had a sneaking suspicion
that if my mother had married the man she was truly in love with, I'd be a
much better-looking chap than I am to-day."

She was standing beside him at the door, nearly a head taller than he.

"Or," she amended with a dainty grimace, "you might be a very beautiful
girl, and that would be dreadful."

CHAPTER IX

The day before the wedding, little Mrs. George Dexter Tresslyn,
satisfactorily shorn of her appendix and on the rapid road to recovery
that is traveled only by the perfectly healthy of mankind, confided to her
doctor that the mystery of the daily bunch of roses was solved. They
represented the interest and attention of her ex-husband, and, while they
were unaccompanied by a single word from him, they also signified
devotion.

"Which means that he is still making love to you?" said Thorpe, with mock
severity.

"Clandestinely," said she, with a lovely blush and a curious softening of
her eyes. She was wondering how this big, strong friend of hers would take
the information, and how far she could go in her confidences without
adventuring upon forbidden territory. Would he close the gates in the wall
that guarded his own opinions of the common foe, or would he let her
inside long enough for a joint discussion of the condition that confronted
both of them: the Tresslyn nakedness? "He has been inquiring about me
twice a day by telephone, Doctor, and this morning he was down stairs. My
night nurse knows him by sight. He was here at half-past seven. That's
very early for George, believe me. This hospital is a long way from where
he lives. I would say th