"No," he said heavily, "this." "Have you paid for your passage?" "Yes, of course. Why?" "Because I'm afraid you will waste it." He shook his head. "You had no cable from Las Palmas during the last two days?" "No. Have you? What are you driving at?" There was something so pathetic in his brown eyes that she had not the heart to drag out her explanation any further. She pulled a letter from her pocket, marked a place with her thumb and showed it to him. He put a heavy hand down on the bookstall and stirred the papers into little heaps. "My God! Laura married. Married! Let me think what this means!" A very indignant bookstall keeper began to make remarks, but Kate said, "Thank you. Those are the ones I want. Please tie them up for me. Here's a sovereign." And then she put a hand on Carter's arm and led him outside the crowd. "Well," she said, "have you decided yet if you are entirely broken-hearted?" He thought a minute, and then said he, "I think my people will be glad when they hear." Kate blushed rosy pink. "They are both very fond of me," she observed. "That," said Carter, "is what I was thinking about. Kitty, darling, there isn't a girl in all Africa, Europe, or America, who has been loved as dearly as I've loved you. But I couldn't marry you, could I, till the way was cleared. Now, could I?--here, let's get out of this crowd, and hire a cab, and drive to the North Pole, or somewhere we can be alone to talk all this out. It's wonderful." "But what about your baggage?" "Oh, bother the baggage. White-Man's-Trouble has it somewhere, and he'll jump overboard if he finds I'm not on the ship. There's no shaking off that boy, Kitty dear, so I'm afraid you'll have to take him along with me when you cease to be Kitty O'Neill." "George, do you know I've got a great secret for you. I'm not Kitty O'Neill at all. I'm Kitty Meredith." "As a point of fact I gathered that from your father. From what old Cappie Image told me, 'Major Smith,' as he calls him, will be home in time to give you away on your wedding day. But I shouldn't trouble to call yourself Kate Meredith, if I were you, sweetheart. When you do practise a new signature let it be Kitty Carter." Kate blushed again most divinely. "As the deepest of secrets, let me tell you that I can write it quite well already, though I have been desperately afraid I should never have the luck to use it." THE END * * * * * Former Works by C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne THE LOST CONTINENT PRINCE RUPERT, THE BUCCANEER THOMPSON'S PROGRESS McTODD ATOMS OF EMPIRE THE FILIBUSTERS A MASTER OF FORTUNE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN KETTLE End of Project Gutenberg's Kate Meredith, Financier, by C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne