His passion, or what passed for it, seemed to impart its warmth to the
vehicle, and even stirred the chilled pulses of the man beside him.

"Well, who and what was she?"

"Didn't find out; don't know now. For the first thing she made me
promise was not to follow her, nor to try to know her name. In return
she said she would meet me again on another train near Hartford. She
did--and again and again--but always on the train for about an hour,
going or coming. Then she missed an appointment. I was regularly cut up,
I tell you, and swore as she hadn't kept her word, I wouldn't keep mine,
and began to hunt for her. In the midst of it I saw her accidentally; no
matter where; I followed her to--well, that's no matter to you, either.
Enough that I saw her again--and, well, Ned, such is the influence of
that girl over me that, by George! she made me make the same promise
again!"

Blandford, a little disappointed at his friend's dogmatic suppression of
certain material facts, shrugged his shoulders.

"If that's all your story," he said, "I must say I see no prospect of
your reforming. It's the old thing over again, only this time you are
evidently the victim. She's some designing creature who will have you if
she hasn't already got you completely in her power."

"You don't know what you're talking about, Ned, and you'd better quit,"
returned Demorest, with cheerful authoritativeness. "I tell you that
that's the sort of girl I'm going to marry, if I can, and settle down
upon. You can make a memorandum of that, old man, if you like."