Here, by his side, wistfully sympathetic and friendly in manner, sat the "one woman in the world," yet he felt awkward and constrained, and took refuge in a vague expression of anxiety on behalf of Handyside, a man who at least might be trusted to extricate himself safely from the labyrinth of Eastbourne! The girl, of course, attributed these disjointed remarks to physical suffering.

In reality, he was contrasting her wealth and his own comparative poverty, and bidding himself fiercely not to be a vain fool! "Don't you think you ought to call in a doctor ?" she inquired, tenderly.
"No, no," he hastened to assure her.

"The effects of the blow are passing rapidly.

In another hour I shall hardly feel it at all.

I'm afraid, Miss Forbes," he ventured to add, "that when this piratical gang is broken up, as certainly will be the case now that the English police are tackling it, you will associate our brief acquaintance with the only dark days in your existence." "Why do you say that ?" she demanded.
"Because I am bound to admit that if I had not dined at your house on Monday evening, many, if not all, of the amazing events of the past thirty-six hours could not have happened." "I don't agree with you--not one little bit," she protested emphatically.