nd it was like him not to have come
forward himself to bid her good-bye. But--suddenly the question sprang
into her head--how had he found out that she was travelling in this train?

All the afternoon she watched the Louisiana plantations, lakes, and bayous
fly by in sunshine and shadow; or she read a novel of the South as it had
been in old days. It was an interesting story and held her attention so
closely that she was late in going to dinner. When at last she went there
was only one chair left, at a table for two. Mr. Nickson Hilliard sat in
the other.

VIII

THE GOLD BAG COMEDY

If ever there was a blush of guilt, it was Nick's.

Angela lifted her eyebrows, though she smiled. It would have been
ungracious not to smile, and Angela hated to be ungracious. All the youth
in her was glad to see him again; but all that was conventional, all that
responded to her early training, disapproved of his presence.

"This is very unexpected!" she exclaimed, wondering if he would say it was
a surprise to him, almost hoping that he might say so, because she could
then seem to accept his word; which would save bother.

Nick hung his head. He jumped up when Mrs. May was shown to the table, and
did not sit down again until she was seated. Now he disappointed Angela by
making no attempt to defend himself. "Will you please forgive me?" he
begged.

This forced Angela to be stern, and she decided to spare him no pang.

"Forgive you for what?" she asked.

"For coming," he answered to the first turn of the rack.

She was coldly puzzled. "But--do you mean your being in this train? Surely
that can have nothing to do with me."

Nick was silent for a moment. The dining-car was full, and the waiters
all busy. No one had come to take Mrs. May's order. Gathering his mental
forces he resolved upon honesty as the best and only policy. "'Twould be
easy enough to say it had nothing to do with you; that I'd have been
travelling by this train to-day, anyhow," he began bravely. "The fact is,
I came on board meanin' to try and make you think so, without exactly
tellin' lies. But you've asked me a straight question, and I've just got
to answer it straight, even if you refuse to speak to me ever again. I'm
here because you're here, Mrs. May. But I promise I won't trouble you. And
maybe you won't believe me, after my tellin' you this, but it's true; I
didn't intend ever to let you see me to-night, and maybe not the whole
journey. I only