She laughed,-a little murmuring laugh.

"I'll never tell if you won't," she said.

"But I don't see how that helps me with you?"

"It certainly does not! That is a much more serious

matter, Mr. Glenarm."

"And the worst of it is that I haven't a single thing

to say for myself. It wasn't the not knowing that was

so utterly stupid-"

"Certainly not! It was talking that ridiculous twaddle.

It was trying to flirt with a silly school-girl. What

Advertisement..

will do for fifteen is somewhat vacuous for-"

She paused abruptly, colored and laughed.

"I am twenty-seven!"

"And I am just the usual age," she said.

"Ages don't count, but time is important. There are

many things I wish you'd tell me,-you who hold the

key of the gate of mystery."

"Then you'll have to pick the lock!"

She laughed lightly. The somber Sisters patrolling

the platform with their charges heeded us little.

"I had no idea you knew Arthur Pickering-when

you were just Olivia in the tam-o'-shanter."

"Maybe you think he wouldn't have cared for my

acquaintance-as Olivia in the tam-o'-shanter. Men

are very queer!"

"But Arthur Pickering is an old friend of mine."

"So he told me."

"We were neighbors in our youth."

"I believe I have heard him mention it."

"And we did our prep school together, and then

parted!"

"You tell exactly the same story, so it must be true.

He went to college and you went to Tech."

"And you knew him-?" I began, my curiosity thoroughly

aroused.

"Not at college, any more than I knew you at Tech."

"The train's coming," I said earnestly, "and I wish

you would tell me-when I shall see you again!"

"Before we part for ever?" There was a mischievous

hint of the Olivia in short skirts in her tone.

"Please don't suggest it! Our times have been

strange and few. There was that first night, when you

called to me from the lake."

"How impertinent! How dare you-remember that?"

"And there was that other encounter at the chapel

porch. Neither you nor I had the slightest business

there. I admit my own culpability."

She colored again.

"But you spoke as though you understood what you

must have heard there. It is important for me to know.

I have a right to know just what you meant by that

warning."

Real distress showed in her face for an instant. The

agent and his helpers rushed the last baggage down the

platform, and the rails hummed their warning of the

approaching train.

"I was eavesdropping on my own account," she said

hurriedly and with a note of finality. "I was there by

intention, and"-there was another hint of the tam-o'-shanter

in the mirth that seemed to bubble for a moment

in her throat-"it's too bad you didn't see me, for

I had on my prettiest gown, and the fog wasn't good for

it. But you know as much of what was said there as I

do. You are a man, and I have heard that you have had

some experience in taking care of yourself, Mr. Glenarm."




Most Popular