the sun I was to do with it, I did not know until now. It's good of
you to offer to take the consequence of your impudence, but I'll eat
that dinner myself, if you please."

He ate a number of dinners at the same place--more than were good for
him, I may add without disparaging their quality; for he fell in love
with Miss Margovan, proposed marriage to her and was heartlessly
accepted.

Several weeks after I had been informed of the engagement, but before
it had been convenient for me to make the acquaintance of the young
woman and her family, I met one day on Kearney street a handsome but
somewhat dissipated-looking man whom something prompted me to follow
and watch, which I did without any scruple whatever. He turned up
Geary street and followed it until he came to Union square. There he
looked at his watch, then entered the square. He loitered about the
paths for some time, evidently waiting for someone. Presently he was
joined by a fashionably dressed and beautiful young woman and the two
walked away up Stockton street, I following. I now felt the
necessity of extreme caution, for although the girl was a stranger it
seemed to me that she would recognize me at a glance. They made
several turns from one street to another and finally, after both had
taken a hasty look all about--which I narrowly evaded by stepping
into a doorway--they entered a house of which I do not care to state
the location. Its location was better than its character.

I protest that my action in playing the spy upon these two strangers
was without assignable motive. It was one of which I might or might
not be ashamed, according to my estimate of the character of the
person finding it out. As an essential part of a narrative educed by