"One moment, Miss Conroy," said Arthur, instinctively stepping before her as she moved as if to pass him, "one moment, I beg." He paused, and then said, with less deliberation and more impulsively than had been his habit for the last six years, "You will, perhaps, be more forgiving to your brother if you know that I, who have had the pleasure of meeting you since--you were lost to us all--I, who have not had his pre-occupation of interest in another--even I, have been as blind, as foolish, as seemingly heartless as he. You will remember this, Miss Conroy--I hope quite as much for its implied compliment to your complete disguise, and an evidence of the success of your own endeavours to obliterate your identity, as for its being an excuse for your brother's conduct, if not for my own. _I_ did not know you." Grace Conroy paused and raised her dark eyes to his. "You spoke of my brother's pre-occupation with--with the woman for whom he would have sacrificed anything--_me_--his very life! I can--I am a woman--I can understand _that_! You have forgotten, Don Arturo, you have forgotten--pardon me--I am not finding fault--it is not for me to find fault--but you have forgotten--Donna Maria Sepulvida!" She swept by him with a rustle of silk and lace, and was gone. His heart gave a sudden bound; he was about to follow her, when he was met at the door by the expanding bosom of Colonel Starbottle. "Permit me, sir, as a gentleman, as a man of--er--er--er--honour! to congratulate you, sir! When we--er--er--parted in San Francisco I did not think that I would have the--er--er--pleasure--a rare pleasure to Colonel Starbottle, sir, in his private as well as his--er--er--public capacity, of--er--er--a PUBLIC APOLOGY. Ged, sir! I have made it! Ged, sir! when I entered that _nolle pros._, I said to myself, 'Star., this is an apology--an apology, sir! But you are responsible, sir, you are responsible, Star.! personally responsible!'" "I thank you," said Arthur, abstractedly, still straining his eyes after the retreating figure of Grace Conroy, and trying to combat a sudden instinctive jealously of the man before him, "I thank you, Colonel, on behalf of my client and myself." "Ged, sir," said Colonel Starbottle, blocking up the way, with a general expansiveness of demeanour, "Ged, sir, this is not all. You will remember that our recent interview in San Francisco was regarding another and a different issue. That, sir, I am proud to say, the developments of evidence in this trial have honourably and--er--er--as a lawyer, I may say, have legally settled. With the--er--er--identification and legal--er--er--rehabilitation of Grace Conroy, that claim of my client falls to the ground. You may state to your client, Mr. Poinsett, that--er--er--upon my own personal responsibility I abandon the claim." Arthur Poinsett stopped and looked fixedly at the gallant Colonel. Even in his sentimental pre-occupation the professional habit triumphed.