this pass, and be in actual need. As these thoughts went on day by day, he
came to feel that she was his by a God-given right, his to find, his to
care for. If she was in peril, he must save her. If she had done
wrong--but this he could never believe. Her face was too pure and lovely
for that. So the burden of her weighed upon his heart all the days while
he went about the difficult business of gathering evidence link by link in
the important law case that had brought him to Chicago.

Dunham had set apart working hours, and he seemed to labor with double
vigor then because of the other task he had set himself. When at last he
finished the legal business he had come for, and might go home, he
lingered yet a day, and then another, devoting himself with almost
feverish activity to the search for his unknown friend.

It was the evening of the third day after his law work was finished that
with a sad heart he went toward the hotel where he had been stopping. He
was obliged at last to face the fact that his search had been in vain.

He had almost reached the hotel when he met a business acquaintance, who
welcomed him warmly, for far and wide among legal men the firm of which
Judge Blackwell was the senior member commanded respect.

"Well, well!" said the older man. "Is this you, Dunham? I thought you were
booked for home two days ago. Suppose you come home to dinner with me.
I've a matter I'd like to talk over with you before you leave. I shall
count this a most fortunate meeting if you will."

Just because he caught at any straw to keep him longer in Chicago, Dunham
accepted the invitation. Just as the cab door was flung open in front of
the handsome house where he was to be a guest, two men passed slowly by,