the smaller man you mention Mr. Hare?"

"He is indeed," he answered surprised. "You know him? Oh,
yes,--certainly! In Hunston--"

"Know him!" said she in tones of hardly suppressed indignation. "It is
he who is responsible for my being caught in this--this annoying
predicament."

At something in the way the lady said that, Varney unconsciously chipped
twenty years off her age and conceded that she might be no more than
thirty-two.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he said with a laugh. "I should say that Mr.
Hare has already had quite enough troubles for one night."

"Oh--then you have seen him this evening?"

"I had the pleasure of meeting him on the square not half an hour ago."

Each waited for the other to say more; and it was the lady who yielded.
She went on hesitatingly, yet somehow as if she were not unwilling to
justify herself to this stranger in the curious position in which she
found herself.

"It--is very strange--and unlike him," she said doubtfully. "He was to
call for me--at quarter past seven--and take me home. I was at the
seamstress's, perhaps quarter of a mile up the road. I waited and
waited--and then--Oh--what was that, do you know?"