were talking about. I suppose he'd like Di to think
that Eagle bribed the livery people to send nervous horses and a weak
coachman, and that he hired a motor cyclist to swing round the corner on
a cue at the right instant, in order that he himself might play the
gallant hero. Rather elaborate! But that shows how a man judges another
by what he would do in his place! Isn't it a proof that the El Paso
affair was a plot--a plot Sidney accuses Eagle of revenging in this wild
way?"

"That's quite a neat suggestion," said Tony, smiling an
"indulge-the-poor-child" smile which made me want to box his
ears--though not hard. "I don't think you need be afraid, though," he
hurried on, to calm me. "Vandyke won't openly accuse March of anything
more, I guess, unless in the bosom of his family where it won't do much
harm. If he dealt out any 'plot' talk of that sort, he'd make himself a
laughing-stock, and he wouldn't stand for that. He'll just try to forget
the whole business, and help other folks to forget--cut it out."

"It will be better for him!" I said, as fiercely as a small dog growling
in the kennel of a big one. "But Di and Sidney, too, both accuse _me_ of
being in the 'plot.' They say I knew Eagle was in England, and secretly
invited him to the wedding. I haven't even heard from him since we came
back from America."

"Haven't you?" Tony's face brightened. "Well, I shall never cease
wondering what brought March to the church, till I know--which may be
never. Unless you tell me when you hear."

"_If_ I hear!"

"I guess you're sure to sooner or later. He must know now that he was
recognized. No use hiding his head in the sand! He'll want to explain
why he--er--well, sort of intruded."

"No, he wouldn't need to explain," I reiterated. "What's the use of
friendship, if it doesn't understand and take things for granted?
And--if Eagle never writes, I shall know he doesn't want me to seek him.
So I won't do that, even though he has been hurt for us, and maybe is
suffering."

"You're a soldier," Tony complimented me. "March would be just the man
to appreciate that if he could hear you now."

"I believe he would understand me as I understand him," I said. "Still
it is hard not to know if he's badly hurt."

"By the way he shot through the crowd like a streak of greased
lightning, I should say it wasn't fatal," Tony cheered me. "But if you'd
like to have me do a bit of secret service work and 'phone to a few
hotels or hospi