"Then I'll unburden my overweighted heart, and you can be my augur
and advise me with supernatural wisdom. Are you up to that?"

"Try me."

"I will. But, remember: this means truly that we are never to
meet. And if you ever do meet me and recognize my voice, you must
go away at once."

"Agreed," he said cheerfully, just a bit too cheerfully to be
flattering.

"Very well, then. I'm a runaway."

"From where?"

"Home."

"Naturally. Where's home?"

"Utica, New York," she specified.

"U.S.A.," he concluded, with a sigh. "What did you run away from?"

"Trouble."

"Does any one ever run away from anything else?" he inquired
philosophically. "What particular brand?"

"Three men," she said dolorously. "All after poor little me. They