The Washington herald., 1913-12-28

aitCI I"dIu WHO you WcIc.
SO she calls herself Miss Balfour
dow, does she?" A light was begin
ning to dawn on me. Il shall be very
much obliged if you can tell me where
Miss Baifour is to be found at the
present moment"
He pulled rather long face.
1 wish could; that is what l
hoped you would be able to tell me-"
No one. is less likely to be able to
tell you about the movements of the
woman who, according to you, now
;alls herself Miss Balfour than / am.
Are you no longer in her employ?"
He shifted his cap little to one side
ind scratched his head. | thought what
ruetul-looking object he was all at
once.
well, it's rather a long story. Its
like this" He paused, as il to try
back to the beginning. Il wasn't ex-
actly IN her employ; the fact is, an
uncle of mine left me a legacy. and I
laid 1t out in buying a motorcar.
meaning to hire 1t out to people who
wanted one. It's frst-rate car. and
| wanted to get at people of better
class. Miss Balfour hired it-hrst by
the day, then by the week, and then BY
the month. We used to 60 off togeth-
er for tours in the country. Of course.
she paid my expenses, and nothing
would suit her but that we should take
our meals together-late dinner and
all that; and-welr-he looked more
sheepish-"she began to make out that
she had taken liking to me, and, of
course, l liked her; so then 1 gave her
the r1otorcar."
you did what?" l almost shouted
in that Tube station.
You see, we were going to be mar
ried-"
]Oh, you were going 20 De marriedr'
vi course; | knew she'd got lots
of money, and that it would be first
rate thing for me, and so l thought,
there being only one thing l could give
her worth having, that was the least I
could give her, so ! gave her the mo-
torcar, thinking he quickly added.
that, as what was hers would be mine.
II would make no difference, and that
II would be as much mine as ever:
only the mischief was | gave it her be-
fore witnesses; and that very same
night, if she didn't get up in the mid
die of the night, and go down to the
garage, and take the car out, and drive
of with it, and I've seen nothing of
either of them since"
This was such an astounding story
that if it had not been for the sincere
air of depression which marked the
man should have thought that he was
having a joke at my expense; but he
was serious enough, as he had good
reason to be.
1T was no use my going after her,
even if / had known where she was,
because, OF course, she hadn't stolen
the motor car, seeing that had given
it to her in the presence of witnesses-
and that's how it was"
DO you mean to say YOU'VE lost
your motorcarE
at looks as If l had. I did hear BY
a sort of side wind that she's taken it
to France, but, seing that it's hers,
don't see what ! can do to her if she
has. She S had me fairly. 1t was one
of the best motorcars that money
could buy; I didn't grudge anything in
the way Of fittings
He sighed. My train came up, and
l left the youth lamenting. He was
only another example Of what absolute
idiots all sorts and conditions of men.
old and young, can make themselves
over a woman
1t was not very long afterwardl that
a letter reached me which bore the
Paris postmark. As a specimen Of
| will call it courage give it YER
batim. There was no date and there
was no address.
My dear Miss Lee-may I call YOU
JUDITH"
1t was at this point that / realized
that the letter was from that woman.
Might she call me Judith! ! read on
with my teeth set pretty close to-
gether.
When l saw you the other day in
Regent street, don't know if you
saw me; | was in a motorcar and you
we're walking-quite a wave of emotion
passed over me. 1t was so sweet to see
lgaln one of whom one has such sunny
memories. And you were looking so
veil; little older, perhaps, but few
yearS more or less would make no diff
erence to your appearance. should
lave liked to stop my motorcar and
,egged you to have a cup of tea
annot help sending you Just line to
ay so, if only to recall to your recol-
eetion one whom hope you look upon
IS an old friend.
"A great change is about to take
lace in my life. l am shortly to be
a Russian merchant of
wealth. One has to be mar
led some time. wonder if you will
ver be? There are men who will
marry anything-who knows?
Il
hat you were the famous Judith Lee.
I was a surprise l had heard so
much about you-about how wise and
lever and wonderful you were. You
re not in the least like what l eX-
ected. And yet how beautiful it must
e to be able to read peoples thoughts.
ven the secrets of their hearts, as l
m told you can. Who would have
hought it? l shall look forward to
Meeting you again some day, IN order
hat you may teach me some of the
TRANCE magic-I am bound to call it
1agic-of which you are such mis-
ress. You will find me an apt pupil;
ont you think you will?
You must be able to do great deal
f good in the world with such gift
s yours. love doing good-don't
ou? 1t must be so nice to detect an
improper person directly you see one
'our friendship for me was almost
ertihcate of character. If only it had
ot been so brief-but the night was
ne, and the boat was handy, and we
IL r,0f IL Won uarv ttuht -YOur at