reaming what was fated to hang on the
difference.

Quietly but carefully I undid the paper cocked hat and read the few
pencilled words: "So disappointed, dear little friend, not to have my
dance with you, but I'm called back to work. Congratulate me. _I've got
almost the promise I wanted._ The next best thing, anyhow. Farewell for
a while. Write to me to El Paso like the good girl you are. I shall look
for you at the train to-morrow morning early, though we may not have a
chance to speak. Yours ever, E. M."

I folded up the note and tucked it into the neck of my dress. Then I
danced. And all the rest of the evening I danced. Yet I thought only of
one thing: the half-veiled confidence Eagle had given me. Apparently Di
had said something calculated to send him away happy. But Major Vandyke
had looked far from sad when he walked into the ballroom with Di, after
their _tete-a-tete_ on the veranda in my deserted nook. I felt something
was wrong, and determined to have it out with Diana the minute I could
get her alone. My chance came sooner than I expected, for just before
supper she tore her frock and wanted me to run up with her to the
dressing-room and mend it. "A maid will make an awful mess of the
thing," she said, "but you'll know what to do, and it'll take only a few
minutes."

We had the dressing-room to ourselves, for Mrs. Kilburn's French maid,
who was in charge, had slipped away, probably for a sly peep at the
dancing. When I had Di at my mercy, holding her by a trail of gold
fringe, I opened fire.

"Are you engaged to Eagle March?" I flashed out.

"Certainly not," Di flashed back. "What makes you think such a thing?
You said you didn't hear----" In haste she cut her sentence short,
realizing how she had given herself away. She would have gone on
quickly, but I broke in.

"You ask what makes me think such a thing when I told you that I didn't
hear a word of your talk. Which shows that if I _had_ heard, I _might_
have thought of it. Well, I did not hear, but, all the same, I think."

"You needn't, then," she assured me. "If I'm engaged to any one, it is
to Sidney Vandyke. But I tell you as much as that, only to prove there's
nothing between me and Captain March. It's in strict confidence, and you
must be sure and keep the secret, Peg, till I'm ready to have it come
out. Nothing's to be said until this Mexican bother is over. Can you
make the fringe look right?"

"Yes, if you give me time," I answered. "Bu