But when he came a little nearer he saw that it was not Ella who
was there but Deede Dawson and his first thought was that she had
betrayed him.

"That you, Dunn?" Deede Dawson hailed him in his usual pleasant,
friendly manner.

"Yes," Dunn answered warily, keeping himself ready for any
eventuality.

Deede Dawson took a cigar from his pocket and lighted it and offered
one to Dunn, who refused it abruptly.

Deede Dawson laughed at that in his peculiar, mirthless way.

"Am I being the third that's proverbially no company?" he asked.
"Were you expecting to find some one else here? I thought I saw a
white frock vanish just as I came up."

Dunn made no answer, and Deede Dawson continued after a pause

"That's why I waited. You are being just a little bit rapid in
this affair, aren't you?"

"I don't know why. You said something, didn't you?" muttered Dunn,
beginning to think that, after all, Deede Dawson's presence here
was due to accident--or rather to his unceasing and unfailing
watchfulness, and not to any treachery of Ella's.

"Yes, I did, didn't I?" he agreed pleasantly. "But you are a