wasn't my deal. But there," he added, giving her magnetized arm a gentle
and final tap as if to awaken it, "he's dead, and so is the whole story.
And now we'll drop it forever."

The girl's downcast eyes were fixed on the table. "But there's my
sister," she murmured.

"Did she know you went with him?" asked Jack.

"No; but she knows I ran away."

"Well, you ran away from home to study how to be an artist, don't
you see? Some day she'll find out you ARE ONE; that settles the whole
thing."

They were both quite cheerful again when Aunt Chloe returned to
clear the table, especially Jack, who was in the best spirits, with
preternaturally bright eyes and a somewhat rare color on his cheeks.
Aunt Chloe, who had noticed that his breathing was hurried at times,
watched him narrowly, and when later he slipped from the room, followed
him into the passage. He was leaning against the wall. In an instant the
negress was at his side.

"De Lawdy Gawd, Marse Jack, not AGIN?"

He took his handkerchief, slightly streaked with blood, from his lips
and said faintly, "Yes, it came on--on the boat; but I thought the
d----d thing was over. Get me out of this, quick, to some hotel, before
she knows it. You can tell her I was called away. Say that"--but his
breath failed him, and when Aunt Chloe caught him like a child in her