The girl’s manner was direct; he felt that she was entitled to a frank response. “He told me your father had been--we will say suspected in times past; that he had only lately come here; but, unless he deceived me, I think he has no interest in him just now. The detective is a friend of mine. He visits the bank frequently. It was just by chance that he spoke of you.” “You didn’t tell him that Mr. Gordon had asked you to come here?” “No; Drake wasn’t mentioned.” Nellie nodded; she seemed to be thinking deeply. Her prettiness was enhanced, he reflected, by the few freckles that clustered about her nose. And he was ready to defend the nose which the detective, reciting from his card catalogue, had called snub! “Did your friend tell you Bob wants to be married before he leaves? I suppose you don’t know that?” She blushed, confirming his suspicion that it was she whom Drake was risking arrest to marry. “Yes; and if I guess rightly that you’re the girl I’d like to say that he’s an extremely fortunate young man! You don’t mind my saying that!” He wondered whether all girls who have dimples blush to attract attention to them. The point interested Webster G. Burgess. The thought that Nellie Murdock meant to marry a freshly discharged convict, no matter how promising he might be, was distasteful to him; and yet her loyalty and devotion increased his admiration. There was romance here, and much money had not hardened the heart of Webster G. Burgess. “It all seems too good to be true,” she said happily, “that Bob and I can be married after all and go away into a new world where nobody knows us and he can start all over again.” And then, coloring prettily: “We’re all ready to go except getting married--and maybe you can help us find a minister.” “Easily! But I’m detaining you. Better have Drake come in; I want to speak to him, and then we can make all the arrangements in a minute.” “I’m afraid he’s been watched; it’s brutal for them to do that when he’s done his time and means to live straight! I wonder----” She paused and the indignation that had flashed out in her speech passed quickly. “It’s asking a great deal, Mr. Burgess, but would you let us leave the house with you? The quicker we go the better--and a man of your position wouldn’t be stopped. But if you’d rather not----” “I was just going to propose that! Please believe that in every way I am at your service.” His spirits were high. It would give edge to the encounter to lend his own respectability to the flight. The idea of chaperoning Nellie Murdock and her convict lover through an imaginable police picket pleased him. She went out and closed the door. Voices sounded in the hall; several people were talking earnestly. When the door opened a man dodged quickly into the room, the girl following. “This is Robert Drake, Mr. Burgess. Bob, this is the gentleman Mr. Gordon told you about.”