He slipped the letter quickly into another plain envelope, one of a
miscellaneous collection of papers in his pocket, and returned it to
the boy, retaining the covering he had been obliged to tear open, for
it had been sealed.

"There you are," he said. "And you needn't say anything to my friend
about the fishing. I want to surprise him. Just don't say anything
about me.

"And here's half a dollar, Sonny. Could I hire you to take me to that
brook you spoke of, where you say there are such big fish?"

"Sure you could," the boy answered eagerly, as he pocketed the money.
"I know a lot about fishing."

"All right. I may call on you. Trot along now, and remember--don't
say anything. This is to be a surprise!"

"Sure, I know," and with a precocious wink the lad passed on into the
ever lengthening shadows.

"I think," observed the colonel to himself, as he watched the boy
making his way back toward the station, "that I'll make a little change
in the old saying, and _follow_ the woman instead of _looking_ for her,
since I know where she is already."

Back then to the peaceful little village went the fisherman, and,
reaching the house where the boy had left the note, taking therefrom
its answer, Colonel Ashley waited with all the patience that might
characterize a waiting beside some fishing stream.

But his patience was not tried long, for presently a veiled woman
emerged from the house. She walked away rapidly the detective
following unseen.

"She is going to meet him, just as she promised in the note, though it
must be galling to her pride," murmured the old detective. "I wonder
if she really believes he'll keep his word--or can keep it? Well, I'll
be there at the finish, and I think this _will_ be the finish," he went
on grimly, as he thrust his hand into his side pocket, where the
"hooks" jingled with grim music.

As the woman walked on, she turned now and then and looked back along
the fast-darkening streets.

For a moment the colonel was suspicious.

"I wonder if she has seen me?" he murmured.

He gave a quick, backward glance, and started as he saw another figure
not far behind him.

"Can it be?" exclaimed the colonel. "No, it's Aaron Grafton," he
proceeded with an air of relief. "He must have been at her house, and
she has asked him to follow her, to make sure no harm is done. A bit
foolish of him, under the circumstances. But when a man's in love--"

The colonel shrugged his shoulders and chuckled grimly.

"However, I must take care that he does not see me."

Slipping behind a tree, the colonel effected a change in hats, for he
always wore a soft one and carried several collapsible ones. Then,
buttoning his coat rather askew about him, to give a careless air to
his attire (the colonel, normally was one of the neatest men living) he
crossed to the other side of the street and then became the shadower of
two instead of one, for Aaron Grafton had passed on without,
apparently, noticing him.

The woman was still in sight, and before she reached the station the
man who had sent the note came out and met her on the driveway. The
colonel looked back and saw Mr. Grafton dodging behind a tree.

"He doesn't want to be seen, either," he mused.

Relying on his simple but effective disguise, the colonel made bold to
walk within hearing distance of the man and woman, the latter having
come to a stiff halt when she saw the man advancing to meet her.

"We can't talk here," said the dispatcher of the note. "Will you walk
a little way with me?"

His tones had the cutting coldness of steel, and there was a sort of
restrained cruelty in his every action.

"I suppose it would not be wise to be seen talking to you here," was
the woman's low reply. "And, believe me, I have no desire to be seen
with you again, ever. It was only your promise in the note that
brought me here. Are you prepared to keep it if I walk a way with you?"

"I am! This is no more pleasant for me than for you, but it must be
done. Come!"

He did not offer to touch her, nor did he turn his head more than half
way in speaking to her. He seemed to be controlling himself by an
effort, and she seemed to shrink away. Again she looked back, down the
fast-darkening street, as though to make sure there was a way of
escape--some one near on whom she could rely.



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