Hardly knowing what he did, Scrymgeour put his arm around her.
"Well, go on," I said, when at this point Scrymgeour stopped.
"There is no more to tell," he replied; "you see the girl allowed me to--well, protect her--and--and the old gentleman thinks we are engaged." "I don't wonder.

What does the lady say ?" "She says that she ran along the bank and got into my house-boat by the plank, meaning to see me before her father arrived and to entreat me to run away." "With her ?" "No, without her." "But what does she say about explaining matters to her father ?" "She says she dare not, and as for me, I could not.

That was why I telegraphed to you." "You want me to be intercessor?
No, Scrymgeour; your only honorable course is marriage." "But you must help me.

It is all your fault, teaching me to like the Arcadia Mixture." I thought this so impudent of Scrymgeour that I bade him good-night at once.

All the men on the stair are still confident that he would have married her, had the lady not cut the knot by eloping with Scrymgeour's double.
[Illustration].