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326 much more than either stock-certificates or jewelry was a good spanking. But I was denied the luxury of telling her so.

"Need them where?" I inquired, forcing myself to a quietness of tone I found hard to command.

"When we ran away."

Her face was quite serious when she said this. She even glanced over at me a little pityingly, as though I had proved rather denser than she had hoped for.

"But why did you hide those things away in a wall-safe?"

"To keep Wendy from knowing!" was her listless answer.

"From knowing what?"

"That Michael and I are going to run away!" "Are you?" I asked, as sober as a judge.

"Michael is coming out here for me this afternoon," she announced.

"What for?" I asked.

"To marry me!" she coolly explained.

"To marry you, of course," I meditatively repeated. I tried to appear as unconcerned as possible as I got up from my chair. "Then it may interest you," I quietly suggested, "to know just who brought me out to this house."