I have aunts I could trade for her." At the door Allen paused.

Marian, running on blithely, gave him no opportunity to make his adieux.
"Oh, aren't you going our way ?" she demanded, in a tone of invitation.
"Yes; come along; it's only a step to the hotel where Miss Bassett is staying," said Harwood, finding that they blocked the entrance and not seeing his way to abandoning Allen on the spot.

He never escaped the appeal that lay in Allen; he was not the sort of fellow one would wound; and there could be no great harm in allowing him to walk a few blocks with Marian Bassett, who had so managed the situation as to make his elimination difficult.

It was a cold, clear night and they walked briskly to the Whitcomb.

When they reached the hotel, Dan, who had left the conversation to Marian and Allen, breathed a sigh that his responsibility was at an end.